Naruto: Legacy of the Hokages
by Lysander45
Summary: One discovery leads to another, the first terrible but the second, the second holds the key to life and death itself. Naruto my way, following the manga story using an altered universe.
1. Prologue

**Naruto - Legacy of the Hokages**

**By Lysander45**

**Disclaimer:** I do not and never will own Naruto, no matter how much I want too. Any and all characters, jutsu and places that I create are mine; if you want to use them please ask permission.

" Speech

' Thoughts

() authors voice/usual use for brackets that I cannot be bothered to describe

Italic memories/writing/Spirit voice

Bold emphasis on word

… Pause during speech

**Prologue**

We open our story on Konohagakure no Sato, the village Hidden in the Leaves. A large, normally bustling town, filled with busy people moving about their daily lives with a carefree indifference. Every building, every home has a history within Konohagakure. This seeping feeling is all because of the nature of Konohagakure, its past. Its name means Hidden in the Leaves, and it is a shinobi village. Founded years ago by some extraordinary people, Konoha has since grown to be a strong place, and this is all reflected in its buildings, its homes. Because of its nature, there have been times when Konoha and its people have been attacked, times of war and suffering that fill the hearts and memories of those involved till their dying days. Everywhere you look within Konoha, you see the old and the new together in one magnificent amalgamation. Old wooden building originally built around trees, patched up with metal sheets and hasty brick construction work. Apartment building held together by planks, billboards mounted on precarious posts, like a warren of humanity.

Held within the perimeter of a great wall, created by several hundred vertical beams of the strongest, most solid oak. Not beams in the conventional sense, but rather whole tree trunks nailed into the ground, some say by the Shodaime himself. And to the rear of the village, a great mountain peninsula known as the Hokage Mountain, and carved into the foremost rock face is four faces. These faces are the faces of the Hokage of the Leaf, the four greatest shinobi that Konoha has ever seen since its found, the Four shinobi who have led the village into prosperity. These natural features, combined with the strength of its shinobi make Konohagakure no Sato one of the most well protected hidden villages in the entire East continent, perhaps rivalled by Sunagakure or Kumogakure in its impregnability.

Since its founding Konoha has grown from strength to strength. It has one of the greatest known hospitals in the Eastern Continent, a shinobi academy unique to the Hi no Kuni and a bustling marketplace. But today, as it has been so there is a slight difference to Konoha. Something is out of the ordinary, and that something is silence. There is no sound what so ever emanating from anywhere, nobody is going about their daily business, no one living their lives as they would usually.

There is a reason for this unnatural silence. A reason that happens to be several hundred feet tall, has nine tails and is covered in crimson fur. The Kyuubi no Kitsune, the great Nine-tailed demon fox has once again descended from its den in the Smokespine Mountains to wreak destruction upon humanity. This particular time, by some cruel twist of fate, the Kyuubi has chosen to advance on Konoha. It is said that the Kyuubi is the greatest of the Bijuu, the most powerful of its brethren. With one swish of just one of its many tails it can topple mountains, or create mighty tsunami's to cover the earth in fire and water.

But today it shall not be Konoha that is covered in fire and water, it is not the Hokage Mountain that is toppled by the sweep of a tail. For fate had other plans for the village, and to that end it gave the people their saviour. A man born and raised amongst them, a genius whose only dream would be to protect them. From the masses of potential shinobi there rose one man from the crucible of the Third Great War, when Fire fought Earth and Air he rose to protect the people. The Yondaime, the Fourth Hokage of Konohagakure no Sato. Faced against a demonic force of nature from the bowels of hell itself, he is once again going to do his duty and protect the people.

"Minato-san, it is time to join the others. They cannot hold out much longer against the fox" came the old voice from behind him.

Minato Namikaze brushed aside the strands of blonde hair from his eyes and turned to face the group behind him. All of the preparations had been completed not too long beforehand, he had simply been using some stolen minutes to retie his hitai-ate and dust off his clothes. He was dressed in his usual old jounin attire. Dark blue pants, his custom chuunin vest and his old white trench coat. Proudly emblazoned on the back was a fiery swirl, the eternal symbol of the Will of Fire.

Behind him was a small group of individuals, some of the finest shinobi of the current generation. The former Hokage, Minato's predecessor Sarutobi Mizaru. He was dressed in his old battle attire, a black full body suit with a plate armguard and a samurai style helmet, an heirloom of the Sarutobi clan from their samurai roots centuries before. Beside the venerable shinobi, the remaining two of his former students, Tsunade and Jiraiya of the Densetsu no Sannin. Both of them only 39, on the verge of middle age. Jiraiya the Gama-sannin, the tallest of the whole group. His most distinguishing features being the mane of white hair down his back and the two red lines down his cheeks. Cheeks that bore solemn, nigh on emotionless expressions. Like her counterpart Tsunade stood out from the others but in her own...unique way. The blonde hair tied at the back in twin ponytails, and the two large hemispheres to her front, not that anyone else notices. The medical ninja lifted a sleeve to wipe away the small trails of tears.

And with the old Team Sarutobi, the remains of Team Minato stood. Minato's own two pupils completed the circle of trust; they were the only people who the Yondaime trusted enough with the truth. Houtai Rin and Hatake Kakashi, two young teenagers of just 15 who had already witnessed more war and death than most other normal people could ever possibly fathom. Both of them were looking towards their sensei, both with pleading looks on their faces.

"Sensei please..." Kakashi asked in earnest "...there must be some other way. There must be another way to stop the Kyuubi, some other jutsu but this one." The silver haired jounin looked his sensei with his one visible eye, a new hitai-ate covering the other. One eye visible, but showing all of the emotion of two.

"Hai, I agree with Kakashi-san. There has to be something other than what you have planned. Something we haven't thought of," exclaimed Rin, her trademark plasters adorning her teenage cheeks.

"No. Kakashi, Rin, everyone. You all know there is no other way. Every moment we waste means more lives are lost keeping the Kyuubi from reaching the village, and as Hokage that is something I cannot allow to occur. Not after the numbers we lost during the last Great War, this village cannot afford it. The Kyuubi has withstood every jutsu we have used, we are grasping our last straw." Minato replied, his voice no more than a whisper, but laden with authority.

"But you don't know if your jutsu will work, you haven't even tested it yet. This isn't like the Rasengan or Hiraishin, this is a suicide jutsu. I know in these circumstances it is difficult to look elsewhere, but there are still other options. Tsunade-hime and me could launch a summoned assault, draw the beast away that way." The white haired toad-sennin spoke with a silent wisdom that only showed itself in times the crisis, most of the time he was considered to be a half-mad pervert. Amazingly, everyone else nodded, agreeing the new idea

"Jiraiya-sensei, you know I have..." Minato started to argue but was interrupted by the sound of crying in his arms. All the noise had woken the precious cargo cradled by his arms. He looked down at the bundle of white cloth and smiled at the baby within. Blue eyes looked into his own as Minato gazed at his sons face. He silenced the baby by tickling his belly, producing a giggle from the infant, who then closed its eyes and went back to sleep, happy that everything was alright. Minato's face grew stern as he finished comforting his child, and he gazed into the eyes of all those present.

"This must be done," he said in a voice that brooked no argument. With those words, he reached into one of the inner pockets of his trench coat and produced two scrolls. Handing them to Sarutobi with a nod, he continued saying "These are my last will and testament, my final instructions. You may read the one with the red seal, for it contains all of the plans I had for the village, but the blue seal is to be kept until the day my son asks you for it. It is for his eyes only. Understand."

The old man sighed deeply, allowing himself to momentarily feel his age. "Hai, Minato-san, as you request I shall do it to the best of my abilities" he replied with a nod.

The Yondaime moved from one person to another, bending in close to give them each a personal farewell. He received strong hugs from Tsunade, Rin and Kakashi, and solemn smiles from Sarutobi and Jiraiya. When he was finished, he tied the bundle in his arms tight to his chest with two lengths of strong fabric looped under and around his arms. Once he felt the child was secure, he bent his legs slightly and with a great leap shot out of the window. Biting his thumb hard, he moved his hands through several well known seals. With a great shout he cried out "Kuchiyose no jutsu," and in an instant he found himself standing upon the back of a giant red and black toad. The ninja smoke quickly cleared, only to be replaced by more smoke from a massive ochre pipe.

"You ready Minato" spoke the Toad in a booming gruff voice.

"Hai lets go Gamabunta-sama…" sighed Minato, as he took one last look at the face of his only child "…forgive me son." With those words said, Gamabunta slowly made his way through the streets of Konoha, careful not to damage any buildings on his way. When he got to the edge of the village, the great toad coiled his legs and shot into the sky.

**Elsewhere**

There are few things that can inspire true fear in the hearts of men. Most think they have felt it once in their lives, but they have barely scratched at the surface. And what Kushina was currently staring at was the very essence of that gut wrenching, body numbing fear. A three hundred foot tall crimson fox, its nine long tails swishing through the air wildly. The noises they made were like small sonic booms, only just taking the edge of the mad growling coming from the inhuman beast's throat. But what really cut into her, what really made her want to collapse into the foetal position and cry was the killing intent. The sheer malice radiating from the eyes of the kitsune, laced with a monstrous chakra that made her blood run cold. Then she thought of her home, and the small son she was fighting for.

"Hold the line!! Teams 8 through 12, give me some cover fire over here! Push it back!" she shouted her orders left and right, trying to keep the dishevelled army of shinobi going. They were dying by the minute, be it of chakra exhaustion, stray jutsu or a giant paw crushing their bones it didn't matter they died anyway.

"Uzumaki-san..." a stout jounin called over to her. She recognised him to be of the Akimichi clan, the red cheek tattoos and equally red hair giving it away. "...we need the Yondaime to speed his approach, were losing ground!"

"I know Chouza, we just have to keep pushing..." she replied, leaping into the air as a great tail swept by. She pushed as much chakra into her leg muscles to get the most boost, but try as she might she and the stout shinobi got caught in the rushing wind caused by the tails movement. They were flung into the air like rag dolls into a nearby copse of oak trees. Chouza was large enough to smash through the trees limbs and hit the ground below, but Kushina hit the trunk with full devastating force.

There was a terrific crunching sound, and the flash of pain from her chest and right leg told her she had broken a couple of ribs and her femur bone. Reacting quickly, she ran through some hand signs and activated a medical jutsu Tsunade had taught her to deal with any possible external or internal bleeding. It was rushed and she found it difficult to breathe properly, but she managed to stave off the worst of the wounds. Gritting her teeth against the pain, Kushina found herself moving albeit awkwardly. 'God dammit Minato where are you?' she thought to herself, her mind racing with the fatigue and adrenaline. Then she felt a tingle down her back, and a huge shadow passed over her head.

With a thunderous crash, the great shape of Gamabunta landed in the forest crushing tree's beneath his warty bulk. In a second he was leaping again, this time to gain ground to shoot great spheres of water at the kitsune. "Suiton! Teppodama!" he cried out, firing seven of the projectiles at the fox.

The Kyuubi turned to face the attack, and took a deep inhaling breath. With a roar it blew out an intense gale of air and pure chakra. The watery cannonballs were disintegrated into a light spray of water on contact, which rained down upon the battlefield. But the fox's attention had been pulled away from the frantic shinobi beneath its feet, and with bestial hatred it gazed at the newcomer. It was another upstart human standing atop a giant toad. Snarling, the fox dug in its haunches and moved to attack.

Gamabunta recognised the impeding assault and drew his massive tanto from its scabbard. "I'll only be able to hold it off for so long Minato, so hurry with those preparations. You've got three minutes kid" he said gruffly, fixing his beady eyes on the marauding beast. In a flash the Kyuubi was upon him, and the deadly dance began.

Minato heard his friend and ally, but was to busy to reply. Taking a large scroll from the pouch resting on his right cheek, he quickly rolled it out onto the warty moist skin of the toad beneath him. On the inside of the scroll was a complex series of lines and signs designed to form one half of the jutsu Minato intended to use, with an empty space in the centre. With the written seal added to the fuinjutsu, the focus of the soul imprisonment would be diverted into the stomach of his young son and not his own. Minato took a small moment to apply a chakra based magnetic effect to keep the scroll from falling off Gamabunta, who was already moving at great speed in his armed combat with the Kyuubi. 'Now or never…I pray this works' Minato thought as he carefully placed his child within the scrolls circle. With a look of determination he began to run through the seals of the Shiki Fujin.

Meanwhile from her vantage point further away from the action, Kushina watched with several other shinobi as the Yondaime began his battle with the kitsune. Lying against a tree supported, in a reversal of roles, by Akimichi Chouza, the kunoichi could only barely follow the last movements of her husband. 'I hope whatever plan you've come up with works Minato. Protect Konoha, protect our son' she thought, wiping a bead of blood from her chin.

Gamabunta scowled at his opponent as he fended off swipe after swipe with his blade, whilst dodging whip-like attacks from the nine coiling tails. 'Gotta pin him down so Minato can pull out his soul' he thought, and in a flash of toad brilliance came up with an idea. He waited for the fox to launch another right hook, and with a quick flick he shot out his long pierced tongue to ensnare the furry limb. Fighting the urge to gag on the bloody fur, he moved with his tanto and with all his amphibian might drove the blade straight down through the paw and into the ground below. There was a crash as the attack rocked the forest, and the fell beast roared for the first time that night in pain and not anger. Capitalizing on the brief advantage, Gamabunta wrapped both limbs around the weapons grip and leant with all of his weight to keep the impaled limb and by extension the Kyuubi pinned. He did not escape from this manoeuvre without injury, as the angry kitsune lashed out with its free paw and scored a great bloody slash down the left side of the toads face. "Damn that'll leave a scar…" he grumbled, before shouting out "…now kid! Do it now!"

Having a few seconds ago completed the series of signs, Minato took the hint and prepared to seal the fates of three souls in a single final blow. He looked behind and saw the grim image of the shinigami he had summoned, and for a moment he felt a strange sense of amazement as the being lifted its left arm up. As the beads rolled into place and the strange markings appeared on the limb, the god of death pushed its arm into the ephemeral faceless image of Minato suspended before it. The Yondaime felt a strange feeling in his abdomen and knew it was his time to act. Calling forth the power of the shinigami with every fibre of his being, Minato pushed from within. A ghostly blue arm of pure spiritual energy shot out from his stomach like a blazing firework, extending far beyond any natural length to reach its target. The struggling fox could only stare in surprise as the limb shot forwards, beyond the mortal barriers of flesh and bone to grab its very soul.

Crying out with the effort, Minato mentally began to pull with his willpower, using the death god's strength and the fox's surprise to their full benefit. The Kyuubi tried to struggle, but for all its might and raw power it found itself, for once in its long existence to be wanting. It could only howl to the heavens as its foul tainted soul was pulled from its form. As the last of the soul left its fleshy case, the crimson body of the Kyuubi no Kitsune, the harbinger of nature's demonic fury, toppled over with an almighty crash into the wasted forest around it. The surrounding shinobi gave a great cheer; their leader had vanquished the monster. But they were only half right.

As the shinigami removed the dagger from its hungry drooling mouth in preparation to sever the souls of the Kyuubi and its summoner, it paused. Something new was occurring. It had been summoned in different ways before my mortals, and always the price was their souls for its service, but this one was doing something different.

Minato was moving as hastily as he could, forming a new set of seals as his body began to go numb. He struck his right hand down onto the seals of the scroll and cried out "Fuin!" The ink glowed a shining blue, and the captured soul of the Kyuubi began to move in a new direction. Like water being drawn down a plug hole, the soul spiralled around and around down into its new target, the navel of the infant lying in the scrolls centre. The child cried in distress and the air around it hummed with power, and the Kyuubi's soul entered his tiny body via the belly button. The soul swirled until all of it was drawn into the navel, and with a strange popping sound the jutsu ended and the beast was sealed. Minato sighed as his calculations proved correct, and a Shisho Fuin with complementary Hakke no Fuin Shiki formed on the stomach of his son.

The shinigami scowled and ground its teeth in annoyance. The mortal had altered the technique at the last moment to divert the stolen soul into the newborn, and since the infant did not perform the summoning he could not claim its soul for sustenance. Nor could he now claim the summoning mortal's soul either, since their contract stipulated two souls, those of the summoner and the target. Well, technically it could devour the upstart, but it immortal mind was already remembering its other commitments and so the death god decided to depart. The ephemeral effigy of Minato drifted away as the shinigami departed, and rejoined with its host body.

Minato felt life return to his limbs as the deathly numbness washed away, only to replaced by a different sense of fatigue. Since the technique was a final resort, it used a tremendous amount of physical and spiritual energy and so Minato could barely move his body at all. He only had the strength to pick up his son and hold him tight to his chest before falling backwards onto Gamabunta's back. The great Toad boss was faring almost as badly, with the final attack of the fox causing him greater pain than he believed it would. Unable to help himself, he felt the links binding him to Minato's plain of existence unravel, and before he could warn the man he disappeared in a might poof of smoke.

Minato felt the sudden lack of substance beneath his body, and recognised instantly the feeling of freefall as he hurtled downwards towards the ground hundreds of metre's below him. He put all of his failing energy into holding his son tight and keeping the child protected. 'Guess I'm gonna die anyway…damn' he thought tiredly, and with a smile he closed his eyes and waited for the impact. Then everything went black.

**Some time later**

Silence. There was nothing but silence as Kakashi moved through the tree's, hurriedly making his way through the undergrowth in the direction of the Kyuubi's corpse. He had to find his sensei; he had to make sure the man was alive. He eventually emerged in a large clearing of flattened tree's and scorched earth, and his one uncovered eye was drawn immediately to a single spot. In the centre of the clearing, in the middle of a large crater lay the body of the Namikaze Minato the Yondaime Hokage of Konohagakure, his sensei and his friend. "Over here!!" he yelled, throwing kunai with several explosive tags tied to it into the air as a makeshift flare. Not waiting for the telltale sounds of his comrade's, he quickly advanced into the central crater. He collapsed onto his knees at the sight before him.

The Yondaime had indeed defeated the Kyuubi, sealing it away never to return within the body of the infant within his arms. The said infant was currently bawling loudly, unsure and upset by what was going on around it. Minato still held the child firmly with the rigid grip that only death could give him. His face was paler than the spiky blonde hair atop his head. Kakashi held back the tears that threatened to spill from his eyes, and felt a hand upon his shoulder.

Behind him was Sarutobi, the newly rechristened Sandaime Hokage of Konoha. Behind him were the fully gathered shinobi of Konoha, the survivors of the Kyuubi's attack. Everyone had pained sad expressions on their faces; many had begun to weep silent tears as they gathered around their fallen leader. The most notable was Kushina, still supported by Chouza she wept openly at the sight of her beloved's seemingly lifeless body. Walking past Kakashi, who had moved to comfort the weeping Rin, Sarutobi bent down to pick up the baby from its father's arms. 'So you sealed the beast only to die shielding your child from the fall…fate truly marked you as a noble man Minato-san' the old shinobi thought.

He began to turn when he felt a strong grip of his ankle. The Fourth had jerked awake suddenly, and with the last of his fading strength was holding the Sandaime still. He began to mumble some words from his cold dry lips, and Sarutobi bent down again to hear them better.

"His name...is Uzumaki Naruto…" he spoke with laboured breath, gazing into middle distance "…I have _**cough**_ sealed the Kyuubi inside of him...so that one day...the greatest threat to _**cough**_ the Leaf, can become the power of its _**cough**_ greatest hero. Maintain his anonymity…protect his identity from everyone who does not _**cough**_ know of his existence. Do not...hate Naruto; do not treat...him badly. He is only a _**cough**_ vessel for the Kyuubi, he is...still...human _**cough**_ still just a innocent boy"

The Fourth then tilted his head to look at his bawling son, and in the faintest of whispers, his eyes framed by tears spoke softly "In you my son I have placed everything I know. Grow up strong; protect the village as I have done. Take up my legacy...and become...a great...leader _**cough**_, _**cough**_ I...love...you...my..."

And with that, Namikaze Minato, the greatest leader Konoha had seen since the Shodaime founded it with his brother, the Nidaime, died. One shinobi looked at the bundle and asked "Hokage-sama, who is that child?"

Sarutobi looked at Kushina, who weakly nodded in agreement to what he was about to say. The Sandaime also looked at Kakashi, Rin, Jiraiya and Tsunade, the other four individuals who knew of Naruto's heritage and he received similar motions. "He is an orphan baby, chosen by the Yondaime to serve as the prison of the Kyuubi no Kitsune. His name is Naruto"

"Give him my clan name Sarutobi-san…" uttered Kushina as loudly as she could "…let him bear the name Uzumaki. Let this boy carry it, since my own newborn son…died before the attack"

Sarutobi hummed as he caught onto the woman's cunning ruse, and nodded to continue the charade for the other shinobi present. "Let all who bear witness to this event, remember this child's name. Uzumaki Naruto, bearer of the Kyuubi's curse and hero of Konohagakure no Sato" he said with commanding resolve, his old nuances from his previous tenure returning effortlessly.

One by one the shinobi survivors peeled off, leaving those closest too the Fourth alone with the body. Sighing, Sarutobi turned his attention to the infant in his arms. The baby stopped its crying and gazed quizzically at the old mans face, before reaching up and tugging on his beard. Smiling at the antics of the baby, Sarutobi turned back to gaze at the body of his friend.

"It shall be as you ask, Minato-san"

The next day, Konoha would awake to find their beloved leader dead, and the only one they would have to blame would be a young infant not three weeks old. The childs mother, Kushina, died a day later from internal bleeding and organ damage as a result of her injuries. She was mourned by many, who took solace in the fact that she was joining her beloved in the afterlife. Tsunade left with her apprentice Shizune not long after, the events bringing up bitter memories for her. It was the same for Jiraiya, who needed to get away from the village for a while to deal with the death of his pupil. Only Kakashi, Rin and Sarutobi remained to watch the infant, who to maintain the illusion was placed into the care of the village orphanage. The spiteful villagers would never see the boy as the hero his father intended, only as the demon that took the lives of their loved ones, their friends. And so the story of Uzumaki Naruto began, for better or for worse.

**Authors Notes**

HOT DAMN!! For those of you who write, you know the satisfaction that comes from achieving a goal, and this was one hell of a goal for me. The original prologue was the first piece of fiction I ever posted, and to be honest it sucked compared to what I find myself able to write now. So its need to a tune up was greatest amongst all of those I have planned, and I feel great for finally doing it. The date is the 8th of January 2008 just so you know, for update reference and what not. Everything else continues apace, I have a little free time this week so I hope to use it to finish the updates and post my new chapter so keep your eyes peeled. The 'Wisdom of Time' chapter will be the next update, and the rest to follow afterwards.

**Shisho Fuin** – Four Symbols Seal

**Hakke no Fuin Shiki** – Eight Trigrams Sealing Style

**Kuchiyose no Jutsu** – Summoning technique

**Suiton! Teppodama** – Water Style! Cannonballs

**Shiki Fujin** – Dead Demon Consuming Seal


	2. Chapter 1: A Legend is Born

**Naruto Legacy of the Hokages**

**By Lysander45**

**Disclaimer:** I do not and never will own Naruto, no matter how much I want too. Any and all characters, jutsu and places that I create are mine; if you want to use them please ask permission.

" Speech

' Thoughts

() Jutsu translations/authors voice/usual use for brackets that I cannot be bothered to describe

Italic memories/writing/Spirit voice

Bold emphasis on word

… Pause during speech

**Chapter 1 – A Legend is born **

Konohagakure no Sato, the village hidden in the leaves. A large peaceful place hidden within a vast forest in Hi no Kuni, backed by a large mountain that overlooks it and surrounded by an impenetrable wall of wood and stone. Like most shinobi villages over the years Konoha has evolved its own unique aesthetic style. Its buildings are an eclectic mix of traditional eastern manors housing clans and wealthy families, and contemporary apartments and building for the poorer population. It appears as a jumbled mess of oddly designed architecture built quiet literally into mighty trees around them. Pipes burst from the walls like metal serpents supplying water among other things to the more modern places, where metal and stone fuse together into a patchwork style. Through Konoha there are rivers, small but varied in size that meander through the streets; and on the outskirts where inhabited dwellings are thin many large training grounds exist for the village's military forces to train.

I say military because Konohagakure no Sato is a military outpost, a shinobi village supplying elite warriors to the Daimyo and all of the feudal lords of Hi no Kuni for protection, military support and other services. What's more, Konohagakure is ranked as one of the five great ninja villages; its shinobi forces are feared by all but its allies for their skill. It is one of the villages that has an officially recognised Kage, unlike some other the smaller villages that claim to have a leader bearing such a title. A Kage is a mighty fighter who stands equal with the rulers of the country where their village is based, they oversee the actions of the village and are the leaders of their respective shinobi society. In Konohagakure these noble people have the honour of having their faces carved into the sacred mountain overlooking the village, as a silent memorial to their very existence. At the time when out story begins there are four faces carved into the mountain, those of the Shodaime, the Nidaime, the Sandaime and finally the Yondaime.

When the village was under the protection and security of the Yondaime Hokage one Namikaze Minato, tragedy struck. Konoha was attacked by the Kyuubi no Kitsune, the Nine-tailed demon fox of myth that comes and goes like a natural disaster. The brave shinobi of Konoha fought and died to stall the bijuu's approach of the village, buying their leader precious time to prepare his one of his many ninjutsu masterpieces. In a bold move the Yondaime sacrificed himself to seal away the beast within the body of an infant, saving the village and the world from an evil age's old menace. He left the retired Sandaime, Sarutobi Mizaru to take care of the village and restore it to peace. And he did, through experience and wisdom he rebuilt Konohagakure into an edifice of strength the Yondaime and his predecessors would have been proud of, surpassing the effects of his previous influence during his previous tenure as Hokage.

The man in question was currently sat in his office, thinking to himself as he smoked his old pipe. He had just finished negotiations with the Daimyo of the Land of Fire for a slight increase in funding for the Ninja Academy, who had been getting more and more students as of late. This got him thinking to the students currently attending; those in the graduating classes who would soon be fully fledged shinobi in the next few weeks. A particularly interesting punch, with many promising young members of Konoha's shinobi clans amongst them. The elite Hyuga, the stoic Aburame, the wild Inuzuka, three names amongst several that had sent their latest generation for training as their parents had been sent, and each of these youngsters was poised to begin their own epic journeys through life. This in turn brought his mind to one person in particular, a very special young boy with blonde hair and bright aquamarine eyes, and a very tragic incident twelve years ago.

Swivelling in his seat from looking at the window to the office interior, Sarutobi swept his view over the assembled portraits of his forebears and sensei's the first two Hokages. They had taught him many important lessons and he was glad to have known them as well as he did. His gaze lingered momentarily on his own younger looking image, causing a chuckle to emerge from his now aged exterior. He eventually settled on the picture of his short lived successor and good friend the Yondaime Hokage.

Sarutobi's brows knitted in thought as he took a deep breath of tobacco, blowing the smoke from his mouth in a slow exhale. "Minato-san, I have tried to fulfil your wishes. The village has been restored and the plans you originally drew up are starting to come into motion. But there are some things…some things even your will cannot accomplish. You wanted him to be seen as a hero, but instead they see only the monster he contains."

Sarutobi turned back to face the window, gazing out into the village. "I wonder how he is doing…" he muttered, his eyes inexorably being drawn to the Hokage Mountain. 'By the looks of it just fine…' he thought with a chuckle '…now if only I can finish that scroll painting'.

**Elsewhere **

Naruto was having the time of his life. After two months of scrimping and saving his money, his latest prank had finally reached fruition. Now all eyes were on him, they were recognising his existence. Of course it was recognition followed by disdain and some really foul language, but still they were noticing his accomplishments...sort of. These were the moments that Naruto had come to live for since he began his hobby of pranks. The thrill that came from a good prank, having people look at him with annoyance (and he hoped admiration) other than pure hatred. They would shout at him words no child should really have to hear, and he would simply shout back "You're just jealous because you guys don't have the guts to stir things up!"

This was his latest and greatest prank yet, painting graffiti on the faces of the Hokage. Vivid spirals and lines adorned the stone visages of the villages greatest, some were made to look they were crying or had nosebleeds, and he loved it. It was perfectly harmless, the paint easily came off when scrubbed with cold water, and he made sure of that. Permanent pranks meant permanent punishments, a small motto he had created to hold himself back from genuine anarchy. Just a finishing touch on the Fourth's nosebleed and he would be done. Then his danger radar went into overdrive and he heard and ominous booming voice.

"Naruto! Get down here and back to class!"

'Crap, its Iruka-sensei, now I'm really gonna get it. Ah well, it was fun while it lasted' he thought to himself, hanging his head in defeat.

**Ninja Academy **

Iruka Umino was a young man in his early twenties. He had tanned skin, brown hair and a large horizontal scar running across his face over his nose. A shinobi of the Chuunin rank, he was a qualified instructor at the renowned Konoha Shinobi Academy, and a man feared by the student population for his hard disciplinary tactics. A prime example of such harsh discipline would be the young boy in front of him, swearing and shouting and struggling in vain. Naruto was his most prominent truant, always escaping from the classroom to perform Kami knows what trickery. But luckily the crafty youth was tied up tight with strong rope in a special knot reserved only for him, since he had previously displayed an uncanny knack for escape.

'Honestly, if the kid could only put as much energy into his studies as he did his pranks, he'd be a grade 'A' genius…oh well, time to engage discipline mode. I hate to punish these kids like this, but it's the only way they can learn from their mistakes' Iruka thought to himself, hoisting the struggling Naruto by the scruff of his neck before throwing him to his seat. The boy landed facedown on his desk in a highly comic fashion earning roars of laughter from his classmates.

"SILENCE!!" Iruka shouted with his patented authoritative voice number 5, causing instant silence to descend like a calming blanket. "Okay class, because a certain someone missed today's lesson, you shall now review the Henge no Jutsu…" there was a small uproar of moans and complaints, but they were silenced by a quick and loud cough "…I'll call out your name in no particular order, and one by one you shall come down and transform into an exact image of me. Okay, first up is Haruno Sakura."

A young pink haired girl walked to the front of the class. Her hair is long, past her shoulders and tied up with a red ribbon. She pauses briefly to look and blush at a stoic raven-haired boy sitting by the nearby window. With slow deliberate steps she moved towards the front of the class, trying to appear as ladylike and appealli8ng as she could, like she was walking a catwalk and not a flight of steps. When she got to the front of the class, her attention once again focused on a very specific spot. She quickly shouted "Watch this Sasuke-kun" in the boys general direction, before putting her hands into a seal and calling out "Henge no jutsu!" with a studious determination.

There is a poof of smoke and in her place is a perfect copy of Iruka. Another poof of smoke and a jumping Sakura is seen. "Did you see Sasuke? Did you?" she cried before running back to her seat. The boy just looks aside; oozing arrogance so thick it was palpable.

"Uchiha Sasuke" sounded Iruka's voice.

The boy in question stood up and slowly walked to the front of the class, his body language screaming 'This isn't worth my time'. With little or no effort whatsoever he lazily put his hands together in the standard seal and drawled "Henge no Jutsu", and a poof of smoke later revealed another perfect Iruka copy. The second poof of smoke showed the boy with his hands in his pockets, clearly not bothered at all by the task. And so the names were called out one by one, each student coming to the front of the class and performing a perfect transformation.

"Uzumaki Naruto"

Naruto, who by now had managed to cut himself free with a concealed kunai knife, huffed in irritation and walked to the front of the class. A smile flicked across his face as an idea formed in his head. 'This'll pay Iruka-sensei back for tying me up' he thought, and with gritted teeth he gathered his chakra and formed the seal. Like the others there is a poof of smoke and sound slightly exaggerated for dramatic effect, but unlike the others, his transformation revealed a buxom naked blonde girl blowing a kiss in a revealing position.

Iruka's eyes bugged and he shot back as his nostrils fired out a large fountain of blood, flying in a comical fashion in the direction of his desk. Naruto laughed as he released the jutsu "Hahahahahaha, I call that one my Oiroke no jutsu. Pretty cool huh?" This led to Iruka shouting at him for making a stupid technique with his nose plugged with tissue, and Naruto yelling back. Needless to say the foxy youth was subsequently tied up once again and chained down to an iron ring in the corner labelled 'For Naruto'.

**Later that day **

Naruto scrubbed at the rocky surface of the Yondaime's face, muttering curses at his sensei under his breath with every movement of his arm. Iruka was making him scrub off every last drop of paint that he had daubed on the faces of the Hokages, and in his mind Naruto thanked his foresight to use water based paint. "Were not leaving until its all gone Naruto," shouted Iruka from his perch above.

"Like I care…" Naruto shouted back "…it's not like I have anyone waiting for me at home you know!"

Iruka paused and looked down at the child, a myriad of emotions playing over his face. Sadness, guilt, loneliness and regret, all those negative emotions were present on his visage, there was no room this time for happier ones. "Um, Naruto…" he began, the words coming out slow and unsure "…once you've finished, I was wondering if you would like some ramen, my treat"

Naruto looked up at his sensei, a look of pure joy spreading over his face like wildfire. "Hell yeah! Now that's some real motivation" he yelled with joy, and with newfound energy began to scrub like crazy, working flat out to clear up quickly. If there was anything that could move Naruto quicker than ramen, it was yet to be discovered.

**Later, at the Ichiraku Ramen stand **

"Naruto, why did you paint graffiti on the faces of the Hokage? Don't you know who they are?" asked Iruka after finishing his mouthful of ramen. Naruto looked up at him, slurping up a large quantity of noodles into his mouth and finishing them with a large gulp.

"Yeah, sure I do. The Hokage were the most powerful and most respected ninja in the village, charged with the protection of all who inhabit its walls."

"If you know that, then why don't you treat them with respect like everyone else?"

"Because I'm going to surpass them all" this exclamation immediately grabbed Iruka's attention, leaving a noodle hanging comically from his lips as he stopped eating to listen. Naruto continued "Some day I'm gonna be Hokage, the greatest Hokage this village has ever seen. Then everyone will stop disrespecting me and acknowledge my existence, that is my dream".

Iruka looked at his student with a puzzled face, and then smiled knowingly. No matter how many times he heard Naruto say it, it still amazed him. No shinobi has ever used the statement so often and so boldly, most just muttered it quietly to their friends in an attempt to gain prestige.

"Oh, Iruka-sensei, I was wondering…" Naruto bowed his head and clapped his hands together "…could I borrow your leaf headband, just to try it on please pretty please"

"Oh this thing…" Iruka brought his hand to his headband "…sorry, but only academy graduates are allowed to wear one. Those are the rules"

Naruto looked down in disappointment. "Fine…" he paused "…sensei…can I have another bowl" he said with his usual grin, showing his teacher his empty bowl as evidence. Both of them laughed, and for the first time in awhile Naruto felt truly happy.

**Next Day **

"Okay class, today you will be tested on your ninjutsu to see is you can graduate from the academy," lectured Iruka as he stood in front of the class with his clipboard. "This years test will be on Bunshin no justu. You will come into the side room here one by one and perform the just before Mizuki-sensei…" he pointed to a young man with long white hair and a cheerful face "…and myself. You will then be graded, and if you warrant a pass will be given a leaf headband."

Naruto winced and cursed under his breath. 'Bunshin no Jutsu, crap that's my worst technique'. He watched as one by one his fellow students filed into the adjoining room, and one by one left grinning broadly with a shiny new leaf headband. Finally when it was his turn, he slowly walked into the room, every step adding to his nervousness. He took a deep cleansing breath and entered. Inside the room at the opposite end to him sat Iruka and Mizuki. "Alright Naruto, in your own time, create 3 bunshin for us" said Iruka, looking up from his clipboard.

'Okay, I gotta do this' Naruto thought. He gathered his chakra, made the seals and cried "Bunshin no Jutsu". Poof, smoke surrounded him, and it slowly cleared to reveal him and his one clone. It looked terrible, lying on the floor its tongue sticking out; no colour whatsoever in its face. "YOU FAIL"; the words blasted at him like an explosion.

"But Iruka-sensei, maybe we should cut him some slack. It is his third attempt, and he did create one clone," reasoned the white haired chuunin.

"No Mizuki-sensei. All of Naruto's classmates created at least three clones. Naruto made one, and a pretty pathetic one at that. It doesn't even warrant a passing grade."

Naruto gritted his teeth and left the room. After it all finished, he sat on a swing outside, watching the other kids get congratulated by their proud parents. "Good job…I'm so proud of you…you're getting your favourite meal tonight" the words of praise echoed hauntingly across to the sad blonde child. Two women turned and looked at him, disgust evident on their faces.

"Look over there, isn't that the…"

"Yeah, he's the only one who didn't pass"

"Imagine if something like him became a ninja"

"Sssshhhh, were not supposed to talk about that, you know the rules"

**Later **

Naruto walked slowly in the direction of Ichiraku Ramen. He needed cheering up, and old man Teuchi had just the right type of ramen for curing the blues. He heard footsteps behind him, and turning to see who was following him saw the face of his teacher. "Mizuki-sensei?"

"Naruto, come with me, I want to talk to you about something"

Naruto followed the man, wondering what it might be that he wants to talk about. 'He's never wanted to talk to me before…ever' he thought. The pair eventually settled on a rooftop of a house in a fairly non-descript area of the villages upper west district.

"Don't feel bad for what Iruka said…" reassured Mizuki "…he's actually looking out for you"

This peaked Naruto's interest, he had always thought of Iruka as being an overly strict wise-ass who couldn't take a joke.

Mizuki continued, "He wants you to experience true strength, and in order for that to happen there can be no easy rides. That's why he always fails you, even if what you have done wrong is small. He wants you to persevere and become a great ninja"

Naruto paused over this, and digesting this new information and allowing his usually unresponsive mind to process it all. "If that's true, he could at least be a little nicer. Now I'll have to wait until the next graduation exam and by them everyone else will be WAY ahead of me, even that idiot Sasuke"

Mizuki's face split into a dark grin, but he schooled it into a more neutral expression. "You know Naruto. If you REALLY want to become a genin, there is another way"

Naruto's face lit up with hope, "Seriously, I'll do anything Mizuki-sensei, whatever it takes"

Inside Mizuki was laughing maniacally 'This is all too easy, now to seal it' he thought. "Okay Naruto, here's what you do…" and began telling him what to do.

**Later **

Naruto sat alone in the forest clearing by the old cabin used by travellers as a point of rest, the Forbidden scroll on his lap. It was late at night, the full moon hung in the air. It had taken all of his hard-earned stealth and skill, but he had gotten the damned scroll from the Hokages house. I mean, first there were the ANBU guards, then the chakra strings attached to traps, and then the old man himself had caught him in the act. But a quick Oiroke no Jutsu and the old fart was lying in a pool of his own nasally ejected blood, completely unconscious. The scroll had been in the vault exactly where Mizuki-sensei said it would be, disguised as a walking stick with a genjutsu.

Then he had left the house with the careful movements that he had entered it with, and ran for the woods one mile south of the village where the cabin was, just like Mizuki-sensei had said. It was starting to creep him out just how much Mizuki-sensei knew about the Sandaime's home and the forest, but for the mean time he let the worry leave his mind. He was just too excited to care.

"Now, let's see what's so special about this scroll" he muttered as he undid the ties holding the scroll and partially unrolled it. As he scanned the scrolls contents, his heart rate steadily grew faster and faster. Every jutsu on the scroll were super-powerful ultra-cool ones, the names alone forced him to re-read them just to be sure he saw right. 'Wow, with these jutsu I'll be able to beat Sasuke for sure, and Iruka-sensei will have to pass me. But everyone's gonna be looking for me with Iruka-sensei, which means I only have time to learn one before he shows up to grade me on the test. Which one, their all so cool if a little bit…dangerous'.

'_Copy them for later' _whispered an ethereal voice. It was like a wisp of smoke or a gust of wind, sharp and clear but fleeting. Naruto's head shot up, and he looked frantically left and right, searching the surrounding trees for the source of the voice. _'Write them down. Copy them for later, you can learn them then' _whispered the voice again.

Naruto was seriously freaked out by this occurrence, but not being one to turn down some good advice, even if the are from a creepy-smoke-wind-voice-that-he-cannot-see-yet-hear-clearly. Taking out a pen and a spare blank scroll (the basic tools of a genius prankster, because you never know when inspiration may strike) he unrolled the scroll further and began to copy down the name, synopsis and steps towards learning the techniques. On closer inspection, he noticed that there was more to the scroll than just cool ninjutsu that could kill an enemy at thirty paces.

There were instructions on the finer points of genjutsu, detailing how the illusions can be made more realistic and thus more effective. There were a selection of taijutsu styles and physical technique deemed to extreme to be taught traditionally. Each style featured its history and teachings, with the basic kata and instructions on how to safely perform them. There were also a series of manoeuvres that the scroll deemed to be highly useful in hand to hand combat, such as unbreakable joint locks and holds. There scroll even contained a series of body breaking training regimes that, from what he read could turn the weakest genin into a jounin wannabe easy as you can say 'number one ninja'. Naruto read through roughly ninety percent of the scroll, but stopped when the descriptions of what some of the jutsu could do made him feel nauseous. 'Why the hell would I want to make a guy implode, that's just sick' he thought with a judder, as he took his time to write down as much as he could. After a while he decided to stop, remembering that he still had to learn one of the scrolls techniques. With that in mind, he returned to the first one on the scroll. It had immediately peaked his interest, especially when he read the description a couple of times. This particular jutsu was a ninjutsu that he had purposely left from the stuff he had copied.

"Kage Bunshin no jutsu, a ninjutsu that creates solid clones of a person by evenly splitting their chakra. Unlike regular clones these are not illusions, but perfect copies of the user that are capable of performing jutsu separately from the original. They can remain corporeal for prolonged lengths of time; but disappear when forcefully struck once…" Naruto said as he read aloud the synopsis of the jutsu.

"…Also, the Kage Bunshin has a lesser known side effect to its use. When a clone is dispersed, all of the experience it has gained returns to the user. This is due to the nature of the clone, with it being a physical and wholly corporeal copy with the emotions and memories of its creator. This makes the Kage Bunshin very good for reconnaissance purposes, since their creator can send them to scout ahead safe in the knowledge that anything they learn immediately returns to them."

After reading the description, Naruto couldn't help but grin with glee. 'Not only will I be passing the test to graduate, but I'll also be learning a really useful technique. I'll finally be able to do a create clones, this is going to be so cool' he thought, and with that he started to begin performing the steps required to learn the technique.

**Elsewhere **

Iruka was alone in his apartment, thinking about the conversation that he had had earlier that day with the Hokage. He sighed as he recalled the Sandaime's words. It had been after he had dismissed all of the graduates, after finishing the exam. The Hokage had been amongst the crowd, and had motioned for Iruka to follow him. The old mans words kept repeating themselves over and over in his mind.

"_Iruka" the older man began, looking the young chuunin in the eyes._

"_Hai Hokage-sama" Iruka replied, his voice a mix of the usual honoured reverence for his leader and an almost sceptical curiosity._

"_I've been meaning to talk to you about something"_

"_What's that? You know I always have time for our conversations together"_

"_It's about your behaviour towards one of your students, Uzumaki Naruto"_

"_Naruto? What about him?" Iruka asked, wondering why the Hokage would be interested in that particular pupil of his._

"_He's a lot like you isn't he. Like you he is an orphan, and so like you he has grown up with no parents to guide or teach him"_

"_I can see where you are going with this Hokage-sama. You want me to ease up on him, but that is something that I cannot do"_

"_Oh really, then maybe you should first listen to the reason why I am asking you this…" the Sandaime looked into the distance, as if pondering a lost memory "…Naruto has always been alone. No one has been there to teach him, or comfort him when he is feeling sad. No one has even recognised that he even exists. So in order to make himself feel better, he performs pranks. By doing this, he can briefly be noticed and acknowledged by others; even all he gets is hate in return."_

"_I know that but…" he was silenced with a raised hand._

_Sarutobi continued, "We both know that Naruto has the demon Kyuubi sealed within him, but Naruto does not. Only those alive during the attack know this, but nobody sees Naruto for who he is." He gazed at the carved rock face of the Yondaime. "The Yondaime Hokage wanted Naruto to be acknowledged as the hero of the village, the one who sacrificed his body to contain a terrible evil. But the adults of the village do not see Naruto as a hero; they only see the demon sealed inside of him. And their cold behaviour has transferred to their children, so even if his peers do not know Naruto's secret, they still have a deep hate for him that they cannot explain."_

_Sarutobi paused, waiting for his words to sink in before finishing, "Do you know, that when a person does not acknowledge another, their eyes show nothing when they gaze at that person. Not hate anger, not joy nor love. All they are is empty and cold, colder than the harshest night in winter"_

A knocking on the door woke Iruka from his thoughtful pondering. He moved to the door, the banging continuing. He opened it to reveal a panting Mizuki, dressed in his shinobi uniform. "Mizuki, what are you doing here?"

"Iruka, its Naruto. He's stolen the Forbidden Scroll from the Hokage residence and run away! Everyone's out searching for him, some are talking about going so far as killing him!" exclaimed the wheezing chuunin.

Iruka was stunned. Why would Naruto do something like steal the Forbidden Scroll? Sure, he would pull few pranks but that was the farthest he ever went. Finding himself, Iruka looked over at his colleague "You go join the others. I'll be along shortly, try to stall them until I get there" he said, shutting the door and racing to find his shinobi attire.

Outside, Mizuki's face split into a cruel smile. He turned in the direction of the southern woods, where he knew Naruto was and began to run with all haste. He briefly stopped to pick up the two fuuma shurikan he had stashed away, before continuing. 'I'll find Naruto, kill him and take the scroll. No one will miss him; in fact they'll be glad he is dead. Its foolproof!' he thought, laughing maniacally as he ran.

**Later, in the woods **

Breathing heavily, Naruto collapsed onto the ground in a heap, all of his energy finally spent. It had taken everything he had, but he had mastered the jutsu in only a few hours. Now he would pass the test for sure, then he would finally be a ninja. His mind wandered into visions of himself with the Hokage hat on, standing proudly before a glorious sunrise, but it was interrupted when he heard footsteps. Looking up, he saw a very familiar sight. An angry Iruka glaring down at him.

"It's all over Naruto," he said, looking hard at his wayward student. He had to do a double take when he saw the condition he was in. All over Naruto's body were scuffs, bruises and marks that only intense training could produce. 'What has he been doing…training?' he thought.

Scratching the back of his neck, Naruto grinned up at his sensei. "Hey there Iruka-sensei, I wasn't expecting you to show up so soon. I only had time to master one technique, and I've only just finished doing that."

"What are you talking about Naruto?" asked Iruka, clearly puzzled by the boy's words.

"You know the jutsu I had to master for the Secret Graduation Exam. Mizuki-sensei told me about it. He said I had to get the special 'Forbidden' scroll from the safe in the Hokage's house, then come here and master one jutsu from the scroll. Then you would pass me for sure. He knew everything, how the scroll was disguised, how to avoid the patrolling ANBU, where this place was, everything. It was kinda weird how he knew so much, but I did it, I mastered a jutsu and now you have to pass me Iruka-sensei you have too" Naruto said, his excitement clearly increasing with every syllable.

"Mizuki?! How could he…" realisation dawned on Iruka as he placed all of the pieces together in his mind, just in time to hear the tell tale sound of metal flying towards him. He pushed Naruto out of the way and just had enough time to raise his arms in defence. As he did so, a hail of kunai slammed into him with such force that he was smashed against the wall of the cabin behind him. Most of the deadly instruments impacted safely against the wood behind him, but some managed to find purchase in his flesh. One grazed his shoulder whilst another embedded itself deeply in his thigh. He looked up to see Mizuki grinning madly at him, two large shurikan strapped to his back.

Mizuki surveyed the scene before him and called out "Naruto, give me the scroll"

"No Naruto! Don't give him the scroll. Mizuki used you to get it, and now he plans to steal it and use its forbidden secrets to destroy the village! Don't trust him; everything he says is a lie!" Iruka yelled his body still rigid from the pain of the kunai attack.

Mizuki scoffed "Don't trust me?! Your one to talk Iruka, considering you're the one that's been lying to him! Everyone has! Why don't I prove my trust, by telling Naruto the truth?"

Fear gripped Iruka's heart as it leapt up into his throat. "No Mizuki don't!" he shouted desperately through gritted teeth.

Naruto was confused. Not a minute ago he had been about to show Iruka-sensei his cool new jutsu, and now Mizuki sensei had attacked him and they were arguing with each other. "Wha…what do you mean everyone's been lying to me? What's going on?"

Iruka could swear that Mizuki's smile grew wider, if it were even physically possible. "You know that twelve years ago, this village was attacked by the great demon Kyuubi no Kitsune. It killed many people; it almost came close to destroying the village utterly. But the Yondaime Hokage defeated the Kyuubi, thus saving everyone from the monster. Immediately after that time, a new law was passed."

"Law, what law? I haven't heard of any laws that mention the Kyuubi, nobody mentions it at all except in history lessons" Naruto retorted, not liking the tone Mizuki was using. Something at the very core of his being was twisting, it was like he instinctively knew that what he was about to hear would be bad; it was like a primal instinct.

"You wouldn't know because the law concerned you…" Mizuki continued, his voice steadily rising to a fever pitch "…because the law states that nobody is ever allowed to tell you…" his voice rose louder "…that you in fact are…" even louder "…the Kyuubi, the nine tailed demon fox that destroyed the village and killed everyone!" By now he was clearly ranting, enjoying and glorifying in breaking down the young boys spirit, tormenting him with a truth not meant to be heard.

"You are the demon that killed so many people, including Iruka's parents I might add. You were sealed away by the Yondaime, the man you respect so much. That's why everyone hates you, that's why Iruka hates you! He may pretend to be your friend, but I'll wager that he's just toying with you, trying to win your trust so he can kill you himself."

With those words said, Mizuki reached behind himself and unclipped one of the fuuma shurikan he had been carrying. "Now die demon! Return to the hell that spawned you!!" he cried out, throwing the shurikan with the insane strength only madmen have.

The shurikan whipped through the arc, spinning so fast it was almost a blur. But Naruto didn't see it. All he saw were a myriad of flashing images in his head, as the truth Mizuki just told him speared through his heart, his mind, his entire being, rocking him to the core of his soul.

_Being thrown out of the orphanage at the age of four, with only the clothes on his back for warmth._

"_Stay away from my child demon" a mother screamed, shielding her son from the 'monster' before her._

"_Get lost ya filthy demon brat" a drunken man shouted, throwing a bottle at a scared eight year old Naruto._

_Naruto, five years old being taken by the kind old man Hokage to his new apartment, after he was found foraging for food in the trash._

_Standing by the swings watching parents quickly take their children home, leaving him all alone in a suddenly empty park._

_Crying himself to sleep at night, hoping the nasty people won't try to burn down his home again._

_Being failed for the third time on the graduation exams, and watching parents congratulate their smiling children._

Throughout this series of flashbacks, Naruto could feel a buzzing sensation build up in his head. It was like an insect at first, but slowly built into a terrible pulsing pain. He collapsed to one knee and clutched his head, his face contorting into a grimace, tears running down his cheeks, as his body convulsed violently. Blood started trickling down his chin as he bit his lip hard, such was the pain he was feeling. It was like a wild animal was within his skull, and it was trying to claw its way through the bone to get free. Naruto thought, as painful as thinking was that he was dying. He wished he was, that he would just die and leave all of the pain and suffering behind him, but it didn't stop. It got harder, more forceful, a terrible soul wrenching feeling. Then, just like that, after a seeming age of pain and mental torture it all stopped. If he were to put it into words, he would say it was like a dam being released when the water pressure became too great. A blissful, sweeping sense of euphoria swept through Naruto, reinvigorating his tired limbs. Then he felt something wet drop on his face.

Naruto snapped back into reality and found he was on his back, with Iruka crouching over him. Iruka had a shurikan embedded in his back, the shurikan Mizuki had intended for him. The wet drops he had felt were Iruka's tears. He mouthed the word 'why', but no sound came from his lips. He was too shocked to speak.

"You've always been alone haven't you Naruto. You've never had anyone be there for you, too congratulate you when you succeed or pick you up when you fail" said Iruka, all his pent up emotion boiling to the surface, tears flowing in small lines down his face.

"Were so alike you and I. I too have always been alone. Ever since my parents died, I've had no one to help me either, to recognise me or congratulate me. Like you I became the class clown, doing anything to be noticed, just too be seen and acknowledged in anyway. My grades declined, life was always so hard, so painful…" he paused as his memories played in front of his eyes "…I see now that it was wrong of me to always put you down, even if it was with good intentions. I wanted you to achieve your goals by yourself, to become strong. To learn from your mistakes and be the best shinobi you ever could be. Naruto…I'm sorry."

Hearing that broke through any barrier Naruto could erect around his already battered heart and he broke down. Turning quickly, the Forbidden Scroll in his hands, he ran into the forest as fast as he could. Iruka watched the young boy disappear into the undergrowth, "Naruto, come back" he cried in desperation.

"Don't bother…" drawled Mizuki, like he were talking to a naughty child "…the Kyuubi is just like me, it'll do anything for power. He'll use the scroll and take revenge on the village for all the mistreatment it suffered. You saw the look in his eyes. Those are the eyes of a demon" and he threw his head back, laughing out loud like a madman. "Now, if you don't mind I have a scroll to collect and a demon to kill…" he turned and looked Iruka in the eyes "…then I'll be back for you Iruka. Don't go anywhere" he added before leaping into the trees. His manic laughter echoed through the woods long after he had left.

**Elsewhere **

Mizuki raced through the tree's as fast as he could push himself, cloaked in the henge no jutsu as Iruka. If he could just get close enough to the brat, then killing him and taking the scroll would be child's play. But he just needed to find the crafty beast. Snarling, he scanned left and right until a figure caught his eye. There, it was Naruto jumping through the trees on all fours. 'I have you now demon' he thought gleefully.

"Naruto, give me the scroll. I can take it away from here, away from Mizuki" he called out to the boy, the jutsu changing his voice to match Iruka's tone perfectly.

Naruto looked at him, and then in a sudden movement slammed bodily into Mizuki's gut. Feeling the wind force itself from his lungs, Mizuki fell backwards onto the ground beneath, the henge dropping immediately. "How did you know I wasn't Iruka?" he rasped, breathing heavily as he regained his composure.

Naruto slumped against a nearby tree, and in a poof of smoke the answer was revealed. "Because I am Iruka you traitor" the newly revealed Iruka said with a gloating smile.

Mizuki's eyes bulged with anger, how dare that amateur show him up like that. He was always stealing his glory, even during their days at the Academy as children. Back then it had always been Iruka this and Iruka that, everyone feeling sorry for the poor orphan with his scar and little doe eyes. "Why do you protect that demonic brat, he's going to kill everyone with the power of the scroll. Cant you see that I am the hero, I'll be the one to save everyone".

As the adults were talking, Naruto leant against a tree close to the pair and listened, his heart thumping at a million beats a second. He kept his breathing as quiet as possible to avoid detection. He had just witnessed Iruka fool Mizuki by using a henge to impersonate him, when Mizuki had been impersonating Iruka. And now Mizuki was ranting out loud about how he was going to kill Iruka now when he was leaving him for later, and how because of Iruka interference the scroll had gotten farther away and that he was condemning Konoha to destruction by letting the demon brat escape. It was all very nerve wracking for the boy, who right now didn't really know who he was.

'Am I the Kyuubi, or me? I don't know anymore, what I am?' he thought in desperation. Then he heard Iruka's reply, which changed everything for him.

"Your right Mizuki. The Kyuubi **would** do that, but not Naruto. Naruto is everything the Kyuubi is not. He is kind, honest and hardworking. He may screw up, but that only increases his resolve. He has suffered, but because of that he has gained empathy in return. I have never seen him give up, and I am proud of what he has become. That 'thing' you mention is not the Kyuubi no Kitsune. He is Uzumaki Naruto of Konohagakure."

Those words were like a beacon of light in absolute darkness for Naruto. After learning the truth of his origins, and digging up memories he had tried to forget, his mind was fragile. But hearing his sensei praise him, hearing him acknowledge his existence, it gave everything that had ever happened to him a purpose. Tears of happiness slid down Naruto's face as he felt accepted. Someone had recognised him for who he was, he finally had a person whom he could consider 'precious'. He heard Mizuki scoff.

"You know, I was fully prepared to let you live just a little longer…" he snapped, clearly annoyed "…but you just changed my mind. Say goodbye Iruka!" he shouted, spinning the last of his fuuma shurikan in preparation of throwing it at the downed chuunin.

He never got within ten feet of Iruka, before an orange blur slammed into him delivering a wicked knee to the face. Naruto, spurred by his sensei's words had decided to act instead of hide. He fixed his gaze upon Mizuki, setting the Forbidden Scroll on the ground.

"If you touch my sensei…I'll kill you!" he snarled.

"Bring it on fox, you don't stand a chance!" raved Mizuki, angry that the demon had managed to even touch him.

"Try me fool…" Naruto said, bringing his hands into a cross style seal that would soon become very familiar to him "…anything you throw at me, I'll return a thousand fold. Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

There was a vast explosion of smoke and noise, and when the smoke cleared, it revealed a clearing full of Naruto's. Literally hundreds of identical copies, so many that the surrounding trees were full as well as the forest floor. Both Iruka and Mizuki were stunned into silence, mouths agape. 'Shadow clones, amazing. Those aren't illusions, but real physical copies. Naruto has learned, in the space of a few hours, a jounin level technique.'

A sea of orange clad grinning faces all looked at Mizuki, who was turning left and right in panic trying to see a spot where there weren't Naruto's. Cracking their knuckles as one, Naruto and the clones all spoke at the same time. "Hey, I thought you were attacking. If you won't, we will" they said, and what followed was a short and very brutal beating for Mizuki. As one clone punched his face one way, another would kick him in the groin, whilst another elbowed him in the stomach. And so a pattern emerged of several hits leading to several hits as the chuunin was quickly overwhelmed by sheer weight of numbers, and what was left at the end was nothing more than a jumbled pile of bruises and broken bones.

The clones dispersed themselves from the exertion, and Naruto felt a strange dizziness overcome him for a moment. But it quickly passed, and he turned to his sensei and grinned his trademark foxy grin. "Guess I went overboard huh sensei" he said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head.

Iruka smiled. 'Even after all he has learned he is still the same Naruto' he thought, moving himself into a more upright position. "Naruto, I want you to come over here and close your eyes for a second okay?"

Naruto did as his sensei asked, even though he was puzzled as to why. He waited until he heard "Okay, you can open you eyes now Naruto" before looking. He saw Iruka, except he was devoid of his forehead protector. Tentatively, he moved his hands up to his forehead, and felt smooth metal with his fingertips. Recognition dawned on his face, which was confirmed when he heard "Congratulations, you graduate".

Joy unlike anything he had ever felt filled Naruto, and he leapt at his sensei, hugging the man around the waist with all his strength. Iruka smiled down at his now ex-pupil, and thought to himself 'Now you're a ninja Naruto and this is just the beginning for you. You have a long and hard road ahead of you, but I know that you will do well'. He then remembered the search teams, and got Naruto's attention with a playful knock on the head. "Come on idiot, we have to return this scroll to the lord Hokage, and you need to apologise for stealing it" he reprimanded, falling slightly into 'sensei-mode'. Naruto agreed, and set off with his sensei and friend.

**Elsewhere **

Sarutobi looked up from his clairvoyant crystal ball, smiling to himself. 'Naruto has learnt of the fox and the seal remains strong, this is a good sign. I had hoped the circumstances might have been of my own design, and far later on in his life, damn that fool Mizuki. Everything seems to be fine, but then there was that strange fit he seemed to have that came and went so suddenly. What could have caused that, some form of latent mental trauma maybe? And then there was that presence I felt through the orb…" he turned to the portrait of the dead Yondaime "…your presence, Minato-san"

Sighing to himself at the puzzling development, Sarutobi turned and walked to inform the patrolling jounin and chuunin that the Forbidden Scroll would soon be back shortly, and to go pick up a battered Mizuki.

**Authors Notes:**

Well, how was that for the rewrite of the first chapter. Little pieces have been added here and there, any mistakes that made it through my checks have been edited, etc. I hope to continue this with all of the other chapters to keep a consistent degree of quality throughout this story, and once I am done new chapters will once more be winging their way to you the faithful.

**Jutsu List - **

**Henge no Jutsu (Transformation technique)** – an E-rank Academy level jutsu used to transform one object be it living or inanimate into something different. Whilst basic in principle, its applications are further reaching than most would believe, but it up to the shinobi using the jutsu to find out its uses for themselves.

**Oiroke no Jutsu (Sexy technique)** – a jutsu that Naruto created, it is a simple henge where he transforms himself into a beautiful naked woman.

**Bunshin no Jutsu (Clone technique)** – another Academy level E-rank technique, where the user creates immaterial copies or clones of themselves. These clones are simply mirror images, and with careful scrutiny anyone can easily tell which image is the real person in question.

**Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Shadow Clone technique)** – a jounin level B-rank jutsu which creates physical copies of the user instead of illusions. This is done by taking the users chakra and equally dividing it into however many clones need to be created, for example if they create three clones their chakra is split into three and so on.


	3. Chapter 2: A Past Awakening

**Naruto Legacy of the Hokages **

**By Lysander45**

**Disclaimer:** I do not and never will own Naruto, no matter how much I want too. Any and all characters, jutsu and places that I create are mine; if you want to use them please ask permission.

" Speech

' Thoughts

() Jutsu translations/authors voice/usual use for brackets that I cannot be bothered to describe

Italic memories/writing/spirit voices

Bold emphasis on word

… Pause during speech

**Chapter 2 – A Past Awakening**

Naruto lay in bed, the fatigue from the previous night's actions finally catching up with him in spectacular fashion. He had taken the Forbidden Scroll back to oyaji Hokage and apologised for the trouble he had caused, fully expecting to have the tar beaten out of him by the horde of angry shinobi present. But the Hokage had simply smiled and told Naruto that he was glad that he and the scroll were safe.

It was currently mid-morning, and Naruto had pulled down all of his blinds to stop the sun from streaming in and keeping him awake. Iruka-sensei had given him the day off from the Academy to recover. After all, he didn't really need to go there until the graduation ceremony in two weeks when he would officially become a ninja, but there were some that kept going to revise anything they were lacking in.

Now sleep claimed him, and Naruto closed his tired eyes. Before he fell asleep though, his mind briefly flickered back to when he learned about the Kyuubi from Mizuki. What had been the pain he had felt in his head? It had felt like something in his mind had cracked into a thousand pieces, or something along those lines. Putting it out of his mind for the time being, Naruto's head hit the pillow and he embracing unconsciousness.

**Somewhere **

Naruto rarely dreamed. His sleep was more like a power nap in many respects, rejuvenating for the body and not much else. But when he did dream, it would be fantastic epic dreams, filled with glory and ramen and him in a Hokage hat (6 times out of 10). But this was different. In his 'dream' he was falling, falling headlong through darkness and shadow for a seeming eternity. Moving his head as he fell, Naruto noticed a small patch amidst the dark. The patch grew larger and larger until he identified it as some form of ground, before realising how quickly he happened to be moving towards said ground. Despite a massive amount of flailing of limbs and swimming through air, Naruto quickly slammed into the soft earth with a comic thudding sound, in a painful reunion with terra firma.

He sat up, and shook his head to disperse the ramen bowls flying around him. When his eyes focused, Naruto was shocked to find that he was not awake in his room, as was customary with dreams when you are the recipient of a shock or fall. Rather, he was sitting in a large field of grass somewhere in the middle of a vast forest. Everywhere he looked, his surroundings had a strange greyish hue, like a ghostly after effect.

"Hey, I know this place its what the hell is up with my voice!" he shouted aloud. As if to match his strange surroundings, Naruto's voice had developed a disjointed echo as if he were standing in a cave. After waiting a few minutes, Naruto called out again. 'Helllloooooooooooo, anyone out there" but the echo remained.

"_You're here earlier than I expected" _a ghostly voice rang out across the open space.

Now Naruto was official in 'way-out-there-freakin-weird mode'. First he winds up in a weird grey place that's strangely familiar to him, then he gets this spooky talking after effect, and now he was hearing a voice from nowhere. What's more it was a voice that he recognised. 'That's the voice from the woods, the one that told me to copy the jutsu from the Forbidden Scroll' he thought.

"Hey who's out there! Look, I'm really pissed right now, so whoever you are, stop jerking me around!" he shouted, waiting for a response. There was a long profound pause.

"_Much earlier than expected, I was hoping you would be at least sixteen. Kids are so irritating sometimes"_ he heard the voice call out.

"Rrrrrr, show your self coward…" Naruto was now quite angry "…if you wont come out, then just leave me alone. I don't know where the hell I am, and the last thing I need is some nut job that gets off stalking kids with his creepy ghost voice!"

"_Sigh, fine then have it your way. Man, I see what sensei used to mean when he said I was a pain in the ass, here's the genetic proof. Turn around kid, so I can look at you better."_

Naruto whipped around to face the voice, suddenly so close when it had been so far away. What he saw was an image straight out of shinobi legend. Drilled into them at the Academy, and carved into the very bedrock of the village. He wore the garb of a Konoha shinobi, black loose fitting clothes with a green flak vest covering the torso. But what separated him from a usual shinobi were the following trademark features. Over the ordinary shinobi attire was a long white trench coat, with an upturned collar that framed a famous face. With shocking blue eyes and a mess of spiky blonde hair, Naruto recognised immediately the man who saved Konoha from the Kyuubi no Kitsune, the Yondaime Hokage.

Naruto paled "You're the…you're the…"

"Well you should know my face at least, it is carved into the damn mountainside…" he turned to the side and spoke under his breath "…although the never did justice to me, would it have killed them to give me a smile, even a small one. Nope, instead I get to be 'Stiff face number four'."

"But you're dead! You died saving Konoha from the…wait. You're the bastard that put the fox inside of me you sonofabitch! If you're here talking to me and your not dead……I'll kill you you bastard!" Naruto screamed as he ran at the man, anger evident on his face.

Thoughts spun through his mind at breakneck speed, 'It's because of him that I was alone, its because of him that I was hated, its because of him…' fuelling the growing torrent of repressed emotions.

The Yondaime saw the incoming attacks with crystal clarity, but decided to receive them none the less. The boy was right, he did owe him so much. So allowing himself to be beaten up by the kid would serve the purposes of starting the emotional healing and giving the kid time to vent. Sighing to himself, the former Hokage stood still as Naruto punched him square in the face and then as he hit him in the gut. To the boys credit the blows did knock the wind out of him, but the older man quickly recovered and kept his ramrod position as Naruto repeatedly beat his chest with all his strength. The blows eventually started getting softer and softer, sinking lower as Naruto slumped to his knee's and beat against the mans stomach and thighs in vain.

'Best let him get this out of his system…' he thought '…he'll need a clear head. And I owe it too him, poor kiOOOF, least that solves the question of whether or not we feel physical sensations in this place'. His thoughts were interrupted when he heard the sound of crying, and he looked down at a sobbing young boy, still vainly hitting him even though his anger and energy were spent. Naruto looked up at the man claiming to be the Yondaime.

"Why" he exclaimed during sobs "Why did you choose me? Out of all the babies that were born, you had to choose me. I don't even have any parents to help me, I'm alone. I've always been hated because of this thing you put there, everyone staring like I don't even exist. And you…you knew this would happen and still you did it anyway!"

The man flinched at the accusations. He had been expecting them, but that still didn't stop them from being any more painful to hear. Surprising the young boy, he drew him into a warm hug, holding Naruto whilst he cried into his chest. "I'm sorry son. I never expected them to treat you like they did. I should have anticipated the small mindedness of the men when faced with things they do not understand. I always knew they saw only face value and still I persisted. I was an idiot to think they would praise you as the hero you are."

Naruto stiffened when he heard that word. "Wha…what are you talking about?" he asked, a hopeful wariness in his voice.

The Yondaime smiled, "Come on, use that stunted brain of yours. You think its coincidence that we both have this spiky blonde hair and these handsome blue eyes that all the chick's love. My title in life was Yondaime Hokage, the fourth elected leader of the shinobi of Konahokagure no Sato. But I also had another name, one known to a many during my lifetime."

"What's that?" Naruto asked as he wiped his eyes of tears.

"Namikaze Minato…I am you father Naruto" the man replied.

"F…father…N…Namikaze?" the boy asked. Confusion was evident in his face, whilst his voice held a sort of hopeful wariness. His mind began to work through the hints the man had supplied, drawing an almost impossible conclusion that he hoped beyond hope would be true. The words _'You think its coincidence that we both have this spiky blonde hair and these handsome blue eyes that all the chicks love'_ repeated themselves over and over in his head.

The thoughts that passed through his brain stopped Naruto cold. After all that had happened to him tonight, he had pretty much come to the conclusion that there were no more 'big surprises' that could be thrown his way. But whatever freakish law of the cosmos controlling random crap seemed to have it in for him, because this new upset topped all that had come before it by a long shot.

He had always considered that he would never meet his parent after assuming they were already dead (and he was right in most respects), that he would always be alone with no family at all. He may not have admitted it then, but he always in some small part hated the other kids for having parents when he didn't. Only he had no one. All the other orphans were eventually adopted, but he was left in his cold small apartment to eke out his sad solitary existence.

Pushing away slightly, Naruto eyed the historical figure carefully. "Prove it" he posed to the man. Since they did not share the same clan name, the only proof of that the man before him was his sire was image alone, which in the world of shinobi was not always a set in stone thing.

Minato looked at the kid, the creased his brow in question. 'Cunning little bastard, just like his mother. She didn't believe she was pregnant until the bump appeared, it always had to be concrete proof for her' he thought, shaking his head at the similarities occurring before his eyes.

"If you're wondering about the name thing, Namikaze is my clan name and Uzumaki is your mothers. We never had a chance to marry because of the hectic lives we both led as adults, and she wanted to preserve her clan's memory after the decimation. You were given her name out of reverence for your ancestors, plus it helped keep you anonymous in a world that had a lot of issue's with this face" he said, pointing at his forehead in a comical fashion.

Minato pulled away and stared into the distance at the shadowy copy of his home. He then looked down at Naruto. "I will not ask for you to forgive me, I shall only ask you to understand the reasons why I did what I did. When you take up the mantle of Hokage, you take a silent vow to protect the village and all those who occupy its boundaries, even at the cost of your own life. All of my actions had to be performed with the greater good in mind, and though I hated some of them those were the sacrifices that were demanded of me. When the Kyuubi was sighted heading towards the village, I immediately knew that it was my time to die, my time to sacrifice myself."

Minato paused for a moment as Naruto listened with intent, then continued his explanation. "But I also realised when I made my decision that I still lacked the raw power necessary to kill the damn thing. Its strength stems from something primeval, something that we mortals couldn't even hope to contemplate or understand. So I knew that I would have to seal it away, but I also knew that sealing it within an inanimate object would not provide the prison required. So I had to seal it within an infant, the strongest prison possible."

Naruto, listening intently throughout the explanation, stirred suddenly as a question popped up in his mind. "Why are infants the strongest prison for demons, surely there's something else like a shrine with wards and stuff."

Minato smiled at the question and paused for a second, 'After all of this, he still wants to learn more. It must be the seal'. "When an infant is first born, their soul is as pure as snow. It is untainted by any outside influence, and a pure soul is the greatest prison for any demon or creature of evil. It is anathema to them."

"Oh, then why is a seal needed?"

"The seal is the lock that holds the prison in place. It contains the demon and leans to the purity of the child's soul for strength. Even if the child grows up to be evil or misguided, the seal will not weaken as it was created at the time when the soul is strongest. What kind of seal locks the bijuu in place is up to the one sealing it, but that is of no consequence. You have nothing to fear from the Kyuubi Naruto, that seal on your navel will hold indefinitely. It may weaken, but it will never break. The fox can smash into it for an eternity and all it will do is give itself a headache."

A bead of sweat slipped down Naruto's brow as he gulped nervously, "Well that's good to know…I guess. But you still didn't answer my question. Why did you pick me, when there were many other kids to choose from?"

The older man bit his lip and looked aside, choosing his words carefully. He started slowly "You are my son…" and continued with slightly more confidence behind his words "…I thought if anyone could withstand the mental and physical pressure of being the jinchuriki for the Kyuubi, it would be you my own flesh and blood. I had faith in you, faith in your strength of will to bear this burden…" he placed a hand on the boys shoulder "…and I still do kiddo" he added with a foxy grin.

Despite his intention to stay sceptical at the claim, Naruto began to find himself believing what was being said. There was no possible way that such a story could be fabricated, the details were so extensive that lie's would be easy to spot. Could this man be his lost family, someone who shared his blood, and whats more claim himself to be his father. From beyond the grave he had been granted a small precious gift by whatever kami watched over him in heaven. He felt a sudden overwhelming sense of happiness, like a vast weight had been lifted from his shoulder and broken into microscopic pieces. Not knowing what to do, Naruto just responded as any child would to a parent and hugged the man tight around the waist, tears streaming down his face once again. But these were not tears of anger or sadness, but tears of joy.

'So that's where I got that from' Naruto thought, looking at the grinning face. He couldn't help but feel reassured by it, it was a comforting smile. His face then took a look of sadness, staring hesitantly at the grass beneath his feet, "D…dad. I forgive you…I guess"

The former Hokage looked at his heir with surprise, but quickly schooled his features into a warm smile. He was about to say something to break the ice, but was silenced when Naruto continued. "I realise that it wasn't your fault, you made a choice from what little you had with only the best intentions in mind for me. And besides, it'd be stupid of me to push away the only family I have, even if you are a ghost…or whatever" he ended with a weak smile, wiping away any unfallen tears still on his face.

Smiling at his son, Minato gave the boy a playful shove and began to look him up and down with the analytical expertise of a trainer, his critical eye missing no detail whatsoever. Pacing around him, he mumbled under his breath "Okay, lets have a look at you…hmmm…aha…oh…that's good…right, okay then. Well you look like you turned out okay, all things considered. Your body's in pretty good shape, decent bone structure, and good muscle tone for a kid your age. Now, as to the reason why you are here. Recently, have you felt any sharp pain in your head, right at the back like a killer headache only worse."

Naruto crossed his arms and assumed what could only be considered a position of 'deep thought'; his face set in a deep frown. If it were possible, Minato swore he could hear the cogs turning the boy's head. Then Naruto's head perked up as he remembered. "You mean that explosion in my head when that baka Mizuki attacked Iruka-sensei and told me about the Kyuubi. That was pretty painful, it felt like I was dying or something."

Minato blinked "Uh…yeah. Could you…could you, tell me all of what happened. Don't leave anything out."

"Yeah okay…" So Naruto recited to his father the sequence of events that led up to their meeting from his failing the graduation exam. His talk with Mizuki, being told to steal the forbidden scroll and stealing said scroll, training in the Kage Bunshin and then beating Mizuki. Minato listened patiently throughout the whole explanation, occasionally asking questions or for Naruto to repeat something. After he finished, Naruto watched his father patiently as the man muttered to himself, mulling over his son's explanation. He managed to pick up small words like 'seal' or 'unknown', and listened harder.

"Who would have thought that mental trauma could pre-empt the seals activation. That never showed up once in any of my calculations" he said out loud, clearly troubled by the news.

"Um…old man, dad, pap or whatever you want me to call ya, what seal are you talking about. The Kyuubi's seal?" Naruto asked.

"No the seal in your head, the one that's broken prematurely" Minato replied waving his arm in a shooing motion, as if stating an obvious fact.

"Wha! There's a seal in my damn head! Seriously…" Naruto shouted in confusion "…dammit old man what the hell did you do to me as a kid?"

Minato stopped, and slowly turned to look at his son. The boy was wearing and angry accusing glare, with his arms crossed tapping one foot. He sighed and looked at the ground dejectedly. 'Even as a damn spirit I still think out loud. Will that habit ever leave me? Will it?' he thought with a worried smile.

"Before I give you an explanation, why don't we go take a walk to find somewhere more suitable, hm," he said calmly, clearly trying to put water over a very possible fire.

Naruto huffed, "You'd better. I want to know why I can see you, where I am and what the **hell** a seal is doing **in my head**!" and followed his wayward father.

Silence dominated the pair as they walked towards Konohagakure and passed through the great gates, which naturally were already completely open. They walked around for awhile until, at Naruto's insistence, they stopped at the small inviting comfort of a certain ramen stand. Minato stopped outside and gazed nostalgically at the sign 'Ichiraku'. "Man this place brings back memories," he said with a sigh.

"You went here dad?" Naruto asked.

Minato grinned "Yeah all the time. Ramen's my favourite food after all," he added with thumbs up.

Naruto grinned as well 'My dad is so cool!' he thought happily. Anyone who liked ramen was a saint in Naruto's humble opinion.

They went inside and sat down. 'Now if only I had some ramen this would be perfect' Naruto thought to himself. Then, as if by magic, a steaming bowl of ramen seemed to form into existence from the greyish air. "What the hell!" he shouted, jumping back in surprise. He pointed at the newly formed, and oh so tempting, bowl of ramen. The smell caught his nostrils and his expert ramen scanner went into overdrive. 'Miso…with a hint of pork' he thought, and began to wolf down the bowls contents at breakneck speed. It felt strange eating knowing your stomach wasn't really being filled, but dwelling on that fact made Naruto's head hurt so he dismissed it.

"This 'world' is your creation, whilst you're here your thoughts can manifest themselves in a quasi-corporeal state. So if you feel like eating, you can eat" Minato explained, looking down at his own newly formed bowl.

Naruto looked up with a mouth full of ramen. "Huh" was the only muffled noise that came out of his mouth.

Taking that as his queue, Minato began to lecture his son in the history and functions of the seal. "Let me explain. I said before that there is a seal in your head. And it's true that I know this because I put it there. You see Naruto, during the Third Great Secret War, before you were born and I was chosen as Yondaime, I started developing a seal that I believed would both win us the war and any other conflicts in the future. I devised a method that placed a seal within the mind of whomever I applied it too, which would revolutionise the way a shinobi could advance their skills and learn. I named the seal the Shinten Kouyou Fuin, because of the effects it has upon a human body."

"The seal is applied at birth, and is timed to release when the shinobi's body starts to produce hormones and enter natural physical development at puberty. My seal, when applied directly to the brain and therefore their mind, would triple their natural learning rate and memory capacity, as well as increase their mental IQ by more than 75…" he started waving his hands as if he became more vigorous in his explanation "…This would allow them to learn things faster and retain an infinitely greater level of information than they could normally. They could be able to memorise a mission scroll in seconds and in minute's come up with hundreds of strategies and idea's to apply to the scenario it creates. They could witness a jutsu once, and be able to break it down into its composite stages mentally, effectively copying the jutsu itself. With this effect also comes the opportunity for modifications to be made to the jutsu, if the shinobi could think of any."

He stopped his explanation briefly, allowing a minute or so for the information to seep in before continuing. "You have to realise Naruto, there are many terrible things created during war. War creates desperation, and in that desperation many mistakes are made. Shinobi like yourself, who have a bijuu sealed within them are raised as a living weapon should the country need it, and jutsu with fearsome destructive power are created. My seal would have ensured that Konoha would never have to resort to such measures, they would always be protected. Because the seal, the village would have at its disposal a cadre of elite shinobi ready to be marshalled at a moment's notice, with the ability to wield complicated high rank jutsu with ease and complete missions with a success rate of 100 percent. Barely a week after you were born, I finally managed to perfect it." His face grew forlorn, as dark memories played across his mind like a nightmare that won't go away.

"But then the Kyuubi came, and my hand was forced. I knew what I would have to do, sealing the Kyuubi within you as I explained before. But I also made other plans. You would be part of my contingency plan, my means of defending Konoha in the future years to come. I applied the Shinten Kouyou Fuin to you when you were three weeks old, before the attack of the Kyuubi no Kitsune. I then stockpiled and stored away masses of information concerning Konoha, the other Hidden villages, and the lands they reside in, anything I could find. Be it history, general information, medical records, jutsu scrolls, building schematics, everything was copied and filed away in a special vault deep within the mountains north of the village. With this information stored away, and the seal within your head giving you its abilities, I believed it would be possible to resurrect the village if it was destroyed by the Kyuubi. The evacuated village population would rebuild it, and you would be the figurehead to lead them through the adversity."

Naruto listened, a half-finished ramen bowl testament to the maelstrom of thoughts and images going through his head. He then began to speak, being careful to keep his voice and body controlled from the excitement bubbling beneath the surface "So what your saying is, I have a special seal that no one can see, that'll make me into a one of a kind, elite, super strong, super smart ninja?"

Minato nervously scratched the back of his head "Uh, yeah, that's pretty much it. You were the first and only one the seal was applied to, and the method died with me. I may need to check for side effects but they shoOOFF!" For the second time that day, Arashi felt the wind knocked out of him by a killer hug from his only child. Naruto's grip was so strong a crowbar couldn't have prized him off. Overbalanced by the new weight around his midriff, the dead Hokage fell off his stool onto the floor.

Naruto was ecstatic. In the past one and a half days three great things had happened to him. First he had been passed by Iruka-sensei to become a Genin. Then he had met the spirit of his father. And now he had learnt he alone possessed a special seal that would make him super smart. 'Now Hokage's gonna be a dead cert. for me, I'll be stronger than Sandaime-jiji and dad put together' he thought happily.

"ThankyouthankyouthankyounowIwillbethebestninjainthevillageandeveryonewillfinallyrespectmeyoursuchacooldadthankyou…" words just seemed to speed from his mouth in a barrage with no cohesive thought behind them. Then Naruto stopped in mid-sentence as a question popped into his head.

"So what about this place, you haven't explained that yet"

"I didn't? Okay then, let's sit down. The dust is messing up my clothes, and its difficult to find a place to clean them in the spirit world" Minato joked.

"Now where to start. The world we are in is not the spirit world itself, but an extension of that plane of existence. I called this place the 'Shinzui Hashi', as that's what it is. When I was developing my Shiki Fujin, I hit upon an effect of signing a contract with a shinigami. During my sleep, I was plagued by visions of the spirits of those long since dead. I knew that because one of them was my father, long may he rest…that reminds me, he said he wanted to see me about something…" he scratched his head for a second "…ah, doesn't matter."

He continued, "Anyway, after consulting with the monks at the Temple of Fire, I found that through controlled meditation I was able to control the visions. And when I added chakra to the process, I eventually landed on a method for creating an artificial 'dream world' to provide a medium for my subconscious to interpret the visions visually. Through it, I could communicate with the spirits of the dead in the 'dream world' whilst in a meditative trance. I called it the Shinzui Hashi, and that's were we are. We are communicating in this artificial world of your creating, which is why when you thought of ramen, a bowl formed in front of you. It was created by your subconscious."

"Wow…wait a sec. How can I make this place with my mind, I don't know how to do this jutsu, I was never taught it or anything."

"Once again my fault. After I applied the Shinten Kouyou Fuin, I used the same process of 'mind application' to place the jutsu within your infant memory. The brief explanation is that I 'taught' it to you as I was applying the seal. It took some work to perform both processes simultaneously, but I wasn't called a genius for nothing. This means that you can perform the jutsu like you have been doing so for years…which you kinda have."

"Was that the only jutsu you put in my head?" Naruto asked hesitantly

"Pretty much, there wasn't much time for anything else, what with this giant red fox on my doorstep at the time" Minato replied

"Oh" Naruto said, trying to hide the slight disappointment in his voice

Seeing the disappointment on his son's face, Minato patted him on the shoulder "Come on, let's go somewhere else to talk more. I haven't seen you since you were a three weeks old, so there's a lot of catching up to be done"

Naruto laughed and followed his father once more through the streets of 'shadow Konoha'. They talked a little as they walked, Naruto telling Minato about his life, hobbies, important events and so on. Everything they had missed they were sharing freely, much easier after their discussion at the ramen stand. Minato in turn talked about his childhood, growing up, becoming a ninja. During these moments Naruto listened intently, eagerly absorbing anything he could on his family and heritage.

He learnt that the Namikaze's had been a part of Konoha since its founding. He wasn't told how, his father would only mention that the clans 'founder' was very close to the Naegi brothers Hashirama and Yanagi, or to give them their full titles in history the Shodaime and Nidaime Hokage. This amazed Naruto, he could have never dreamed that his clan could have been so important. But there was more. Minato continued as they walked past the hospital.

"Throughout the years, as the village fought in each of the Great Secret Wars, our clan dwindled. Many died, some married and took up their wives clan name, and we quickly diminished into a small group. Clans like the Hyuga and the Uchiha rose to prominence, their kekkai genkai ensuring their power during the conflicts. True, the Namikaze were elite in most senses, we even had a district in the northeast quarter of the village all to ourselves during the hay days of the clan. But by the time I was born, there were three families left. Mine, my uncles and my aunts, but she married a Hyuga branch member after Uncle Nagare died from illness."

"So, am I the last of the Namikaze bloodline still alive?" Naruto enquired the sad history of his clan darkening his previously happy mood.

"Pretty much. You're the last of both the Uzumaki and Namikaze clans, though last I heard your mother's aunt was still alive and kicking."

"Seriously! What part of the village does she live in? Why haven't I seen her about? Why wasn't I told about her?"

"Security reasons probably" Minato replied, a slight frown on his face. 'They really have kept him in the dark haven't they' he thought.

"Huh"

"Hmmm, how can I put this. Your aunt doesn't live in Konoha. She doesn't even live in the Ho no Kuni…" as he spoke, they stopped walking and Minato stared up at the Hokage memorial as he recalled the memory of his wife. They were in a small square that overlooked the stone faces of the Hokage. Minato leant against the railing, "Your mothers clan the Uzumaki were born in a small country known as Uzumaki no Kuni, though that land is long since dead from events your too young to learn about right now. Now where was I…oh yeah your mother's aunt. She married into a clan known as the Mateki, who reside in Kusakagure, the shinobi village of Kusa no Kuni."

"I first met your mother during an alliance mission to Uzumaki no Kuni. It was a small country with no shinobi village to protect it from invaders, its only defence was an alliance made up of specific shinobi clans. The Uzumaki were one of those clans. Uzumaki no Kuni were a series of linked islands bordering the combined lands of Mizu no Kuni to the east. During the period of healing between what would be known as the Second and Third Great Secret Wars, the then ruling daimyo of Mizu no Kuni came up with a brutal expansion strategy. He believed that in order to increase his nation's power and importance he would need more tithes from its people, but since the population of Mizu no Kuni is limited by the number of islands within its borders the tithes were limited…"

"…So in order to remedy this fact, the man ordered Kirigakure to assault the smaller neighbouring countries bordering Mizu no Kuni, forcing the daimyo's of these countries to accept assimilation and fealty to him. If they resisted every man, woman and child would be killed and the lands burned to the ground and assimilated anyway. Uzumaki no Kuni was one of these island nations, and when Kirigakure forces invaded the daimyo of Uzumaki no Kuni requested aid from Konoha to repel the invaders. Knowing that too many representatives of the village would endanger the tenuous relationship between Konohagakure and Kirigakure, three teams were sent including my own. That was when I met your mother…"

"…We first met during a skirmish. Our teams arrived in time to repel some Kirigakure shinobi trying to assault a village. It was close fought because a majority of the shinobi that had been sent were of chuunin or jounin level making their skills formidable, and during the battle your mother mistook me for one of the enemy. As I was fighting this one guy, I caught a glimpse of her charging towards me. Out off the blue, the most beautiful women I had ever seen attacking me with all the subtlety of a rampaging elephant. I was so dazed I took a kunai to the right thigh, still got the scar..." by now he was in a sort of romantic daze, his eyes hazy with the memories.

"…the invading forces were eventually repelled long enough for the civilian populations to be evacuated, but the daimyo was assassinated in his house during the confusion. Without a leader Uzumaki no Kuni dissolved overnight, with the vast majority of the population moving to Ho no Kuni and the other inland countries to make a fresh start on things. The Uzumaki clan was mostly wiped out in the fighting to repel the invaders, only a few families within the clan survived to move to Konoha. Your mother's family was one of them, and she became a fully fledged shinobi soon afterwards. We met more often after she apologised for nearly castrating me, seeing each other whilst off duty and from there…well a romance blossomed…" he paused for a deep breath, exhaling slowly.

"…We fell in love, it's as simple as that. After the Third Secret War came and went, she decide to retire from service like some shinobi do after fighting in war time. She moved in with me around the time I became Yondaime, and after a while she fell pregnant with you. But…" a single tear trickled down his face "…she died. She and many others gave their lives to stall the Kyuubi long enough for me to bring my plan of sealing it into fruition."

Realising the tears on his cheeks, Minato quickly wiped them from me. Naruto was crying also, and in his head he remarked on how often of late he seemed to be doing that. With a sudden force, Minato grabbed his son by the shoulders and twisted him so he looked into his eyes, speaking in a low forceful tone. "Now you listen to me Naruto, and listen well. Don't you ever, for one second blame yourself for Kushina's death. It was the demon, and the demon alone, it is a separate entity to you. She died for your life, and the lives of every villager in Konoha. I lost both my wife and my own life that day, but we sacrificed ourselves to give you a fresh start and we met each other on the other side proud of the knowledge that you still existed…"

"…Granted your treatment has been…less than satisfactory…but that cannot be helped now. If you want to mull over some karma-crap, then consider this. Your mother, my wife lives through you. Her spirit, her essence flows through you, protecting you for the rest of your days. As does mine, do you understand…" Naruto just looked at his dad "…DO YOU UNDERSTAND" Minato shouted.

Naruto nodded, and the pair was silent for awhile, just standing quietly gazing at the carved rock faces on the mountainside. It was Naruto that broke the silence. "Dad, if I can see you in this place, this world. Can I see mom?"

Minato smiled "Its not that simple. It's true that this plane is a means of bridging the gap between the land of the living and the land of the dead. But for them to come here, the spirits must both want to come here, and have knowledge of this place's existence. Yes, it's true that your mother fulfils both criteria, and she wants to see you more than anything. Its just she's a little nervous that's all. You'll see her eventually when your both ready for it."

Naruto's mood brightened at this. It seemed that after all the crap he had gone through in life, now he was finally getting a hell of a lot of good. In the space of one (very long) dream/vision/thing, he had learnt pretty much every answer to all the questions concerning his past. He had parents, a clan to call his own. Relatives still living, albeit in another country. "Who else am I gonna meet, once I got used to 'making' this place, or whatever happens" he asked.

"Kid, you're gonna meet people here that will open your eyes…" his father replied cryptically "…anyway. You told me during out nice enlightening conversation that you wanted to become Hokage like your old man. Now I'm gonna ask you now, are you serious?"

His voice took a mock stern tone "Because if you aren't committed one hundred percent, you'll lose out to some other 'gifted genius' like that Uchiha kid you mentioned. No son of mine is going to enter into something without following through. You got that?"

Naruto did a salute and grinned "One hundred percent SIR! I will be Hokage no matter what"

'And with a will like that I'm sure you will' Arashi thought, "Good, now to business. I can't train you, even during our meetings here. It doesn't work like that unfortunately. What I can do is guide you, the rest is up to you. You train yourself in the real world, and come to me for advice when you need it. I mean, not like I'm one to brag, but I am a kick ass sensei. My best student Hatake Kakashi made jounin at 13, was on his way to ANBU captain too if I remember right. Course I was alive then and he was a born genius like myself, but meh with the details."

"Who's he?"

"You'll meet him eventually. Now, this has been nice but you need to wake up soon otherwise people'll think your in a coma or something. To sever your connection with the 'Shinzui Hashi', put your hands into this seal…" he demonstrated it. Both hands were flat; palms against one another like the snake seal. The thumbs were entwined and the middle fingers were at a ninety-degree angle. Naruto went to form the seal, but was stopped by his father.

"Just a sec there son. I haven't finished talking yet. Once you form the seal, simply say 'Shinzui Hashi Kai' and you should exit this place and return to your body. There are no side effects (that I know of); it will be just like waking up from a deep sleep. Now, as you're new sensei here are my first orders. Go to that old coot Sarutobi and ask for 'The Fourths Will', he should know what to do. Its okay to tell him about this, he is one of the most trustworthy people I know of. Follow the instructions provided, they will lead you to a place where you can train in solitude away from prying eyes. Study the basics first; fill in any blanks that you feel need to be addressed. Don't just go barging in learning as many cool ninjutsu as possible, 'a firm foundation leads to a strong home' as my old man used to tell me. Now go make me proud son." He finished, giving his boy a quick hug.

Naruto returned the hug, formed the seal he was shown and called out "Shinzui Hashi…KAI!" For a second it seemed like nothing had happened. Then he felt a disjointed feeling, like a form of vertigo. Then, it was as if the ground gave way beneath his feet, and his body seemed to disintegrate before his eyes. He fell through an endless blackness, and as a bright light flooded his vision, he thought he saw a woman's face. She had long red-brown hair and startling blue eyes. She said his name, but then disappeared into the light. Naruto screamed for an age as the light took him.

**Real World **

"Aaaaaaaagh" he woke with a scream and for a few minutes sat upright breathing heavily. 'What a weird dream…wait that wasn't a dream! That really was my dad, and…' memories flooding his drowsy mind as the nights events replayed in his head. Naruto smiled to himself, and as he thought of what he must do he couldn't help by utter "Look out world, there's a new Naruto now".

**Later**

"Okay kid, just stand still and don't pull any weird faces okay" said a gruff voice from beneath a camera cloth.

"Just take the damn picture will ya" Naruto replied. It was the morning after his meeting with his dad, and he was getting his picture taken for his official ninja records. He had been thinking about doing something artistic like a sneer with vivid face paint tattoo's, but had settled for his trademark grin slightly toned down to make him seem like a normal person. He was wearing his new forehead protector with pride, the polished metal glinting in the sun. The picture was taken; he paid the man for it and walked away in the direction of the Hokage building. He remembered the advice he had been given by Iruka-sensei after returning the Forbidden Scroll to the Hokage.

_Iruka walked with Naruto as they both returned home. Since his apartment was only a short ways from Naruto's, Iruka decided to walk the boy home and give him a small lecture on what was going to happen now he had graduated, as Naruto had missed being told it with the rest of the class (due to the whole failing the exam thing)._

"_Naruto, now that you've graduated, you will have a period of three weeks away from the Academy before you have to return to be assigned your jounin-sensei and be placed in three-man squads. So I advice you in that time to get rest up, take things easy and prepare okay" he said, looking down at the tired, but happy boy._

"_Sure thing Iruka-sensei, that means I have three whole weeks to train with no distractions"_

"_Oh yeah, and you need to have your picture taken and fill in a form registering yourself as a shinobi of Konoha, and hand it in at the Hokage building."_

"_Great, that's means I'm gonna have to spend every bit of cash I have paying for a picture. Great, can my life get any worse"_

"_Oh yeah, I forgot. I has to be handed in by tomorrow or there will be an extra months delay and you wont be a ninja until the forms are fully processed" the man added with a carefree smile._

"_Whaaaaat!"_

Grumbling to himself about the overcharged cost of the picture, Naruto went through what he had been told to do by his father. 'Okay, I need to take this in to the Hokage building, and ask old man Sandaime for the 'Fourths Will'. Then I follow the instructions on the 'will' and begin training…or something like that' he thought to himself.

There was something else that was worrying him. The seal in his head, his father had described what effects it will have on his mind like the increased memory and intellect, but would the changes stop there. He had scared himself earlier when he gazed at two old men playing shogi. He had never really played or shown much interest in the game, but after five minutes discreetly watching he found himself going over strategies in his head, and had to stop himself from pointing out to one of the geezers what to him seemed like a blatantly obvious move. Clearly he was getting smarter, but how would that change who he was.

"Might as well just accept that the old dumbass me is soon going to be a thing of the past" he muttered out loud as he approached the Hokage building. He entered and made his way to the room where the Sandaime currently was, as pointed out by an overly friendly chuunin. 'Man that guy really was laying it on thick, guess he didn't want to show himself up by telling me to get lost' Naruto thought with a chuckle.

People's behaviour towards him tended to go down three directions. One, they were either overly friendly to hide their hate for him. Two, they showed open vindictive behaviour because they didn't care. And three, which was an especially new kind of attitude, was that they accepted him for who he was and treated him with kindness. So far it was only Iruka-sensei, old man Sandaime, Teuchi-san and Ayame-chan that treated him like a real person. And his dad of course. He entered the room where the Hokage was with his chuunin 'helpers', and handed in his registration form.

"Hey old man Sarutobi, can I talk to you for a moment in private please" he asked, indicating to the chuunin when he said 'private'.

"Of course Naruto. Kotetsu, Izumo, that will be all for today. If you could take the remaining paperwork and place it in my office I would be grateful. I can finish this all later" the old Hokage told his subordinates. The two men bowed slightly and left with their individual piles of paper. "Now Naruto, what can I do for you that would warrant such an impromptu private meeting."

"I would like the Fourths will, if its not any trouble"

This statement made the old mans smile fall into a frown, which was quickly replaced by a more neutral yet cheerful expression. "I see, and why are you asking me a question like that Naruto, if you don't mind me asking" he asked trying to sound nonchalant.

'I suppose its okay to tell him about last night' Naruto thought, and he proceeded to tell the old man about his trip to the 'Shinzui Hashi' world, meeting his father, learning about the Shinten Koyou Fuin in his mind and the nature of the 'Shinzui Hashi'. At the end of his tale Sarutobi with slow deliberate precision took out his pipe, filled it, lit it and took a deep inhalation. 'Minato-san, the wonders you could accomplish. It's no surprise that they could continue from beyond the grave' he thought as he breathed out a trail of smoke.

"So you know of your origins, I'm glad. It was painful lying to you all these years, I hope you understand that, and now I can at least relax some…" he laughed as a sudden memory popped into his head "…hmm, your father was a great man. I saw that even when he was a little boy, when he insisted his friends called him Yondaime. He was much like you, saying things like 'When I'm Hokage I'm gonna bring this place out of the dark ages and make it great'. And he would have…"

"If not for the fox, I know" Naruto finished for him.

"Indeed. Now Naruto, you must realise that you are to tell nobody what you told me, unless you are sure you can trust then one hundred percent. Your father was only leader of this village for a short period, but he still had enemies from that time and before" Sarutobi intoned, his eyes and voice evoking a deadly seriousness that Naruto had never seen before.

"I understand. I also expect the same courtesy of you; I don't want the weirdo's on the council learning new stuff about me. They hate me as it is, anything like this would just be fuel for the fire" Naruto replied nonchalantly

"Very well. Now, if you'll follow me to my office we can look at…" he motioned to the door, but was interrupted by the sound of thumping feet behind it. The door slid open to reveal a young boy. He was dressed in a T-shirt with the Konoha leaf, a skullcap that covered his head but for a small tuft of spiky black hair sticking out of the top, and a long blue scarf wrapped several times around his neck. It was the same scarf that caused him to trip and fall spectacularly in front of the pair. He got up, dusted himself off and glared at Naruto and Sarutobi in equal measure.

"Hey you, who do you think you are tripping me up like that…" he turned to the oldest of the two "…I've come to fight you old man!" he shouted in his high pitched child's voice, holding his one dulled shurikan in defiance.

He was about to move when he found himself facing a very irate blonde haired blue eyed ninja hopeful. "Who do I think I am? Who do you think you are you little idiot, you fell by yourself!"

"I'm not an idiot, your and idiot, idiot!" the boy shouted back.

To say that Naruto was irritated would be putting it lightly. After all Naruto is merely a healthy young boy on the verge of adolescence and all the things associated with it, such as hormones and the like. As such, he had a healthy temperament, like all healthy young boys. So when he is accused of doing something as stupid as trip a little kid up by said little kid, he naturally would be quite vexed. Especially when he was just about to follow the old man to receive what would be one of the most important scrolls in all of his life, and then having a little kid barge in and stop everything made his mood quickly sour. They pair glared at each other, sparks flying between then. Naruto was about to take a swing at the boy when he heard a voice, "Put him down! That is the Hokage-sama's grandson, treat him with respect"

The voice originated from a tall man, wearing glasses and a dark, full body ninja outfit, his leaf headband tied bandanna style on his head. 'Ugh, the Kyuubi brat…' Ebisu thought '…I must get him away from the honourable grandson of the Hokage-sama'

Naruto looked at boy in his hands, clearly contemplating his next actions carefully. 'Now he wont do it, just like all the others' thought the boy, smugness and sadness showing on his face. Naruto next action shocked all in the room. With no hesitation, he dropped the boy to his feet and hit him hard on the head. Having gone through the pros and cons of the action in a split second, in Naruto's mind the risks were worth the gain. Risk…upsetting a stuck up jounin and possibly old man Sarutobi, the latter who would most likely forgive him. Gain…self satisfaction from making an irritating kid shut up. No contest whatsoever.

The kid rubbed his head and looked at Naruto with a mix of awe and fear (well he had just hit him after all) 'He's not like the others at all'. He watched as the boy took a deep calming breath, and asked his grandpa if they could continue with the business that had been interrupted. The old man nodded and motioned for Naruto to follow him, but by then he was already moving down the corridor as fast as his little legs would take him.

'That guy, I recognise him from somewhere. He's the one who's always pulling those awesome pranks. I'll wait till he's done with Grandpa, and then follow him to learn his secrets. Then I can beat the old man easy' he thought, laughing to himself.

Meanwhile, a gaping Ebisu watched as the demon child walked away with the honourable Hokage. 'How dare that creature fraternise with such a great man…I will have to find a way of separating him from Hokage-sama, lest havoc ensue. But only after I pin down the honourable grandson' he thought, before noticing a very brazen fact. He was alone. Looking from side to side he scanned the room for any signs of the tricky young master, but as usual found none. A growl built up in his chest, and with a righteous howl of anger Ebisu shouted to the heavens "Rrrrrrrr, How can I keep losing him like this!"

"Shut up Ebisu, were trying to work here" came several voices from down the hall. The man deflated, and set about his seemingly never ending task of hunting an untrained child.

**Elsewhere**

As they entered the Hokage office, Naruto scanned the room and found his father's portrait hanging on the wall left of the Hokage building. His gaze then turned to Sarutobi who approached the portrait of the Yondaime and pulled it aside to reveal a safe. Along with the standard code locking mechanism and a keyhole, Naruto also noted that the safe had a Mahi fuin as a further deterrent against would be thieves.

Sarutobi took out a key from his sleeve, inserted it into the keyhole and turned it. He then punched in the code on the locking mechanism, and deactivated the Mahi fuin. The safe door swung open, a small cloud of dust escaping into the air. Sarutobi removed the contents; three scrolls and handed them to Naruto. One had an orange coloured seal, the second a blue seal, and the third a scarlet coloured seals.

"When your father decided on his plan to seal the Kyuubi, he gave me two scrolls. One was that orange one, which he had written for you to read when you asked for it. The second was a compilation of his plans for the village that I were to set in to motion or continue when I regained my official status. That same scroll also included into it guidelines for setting up your inheritance."

Sarutobi paused and pointed to something behind Naruto's head. The boy turned, and gazed upon his father's official portrait. "You see Naruto, although your father's clan…your clan was small in size, they were incredibly wealthy. Whenever a member of the Namikaze clan died, all of their possessions and wealth were kept within the family to maintain the clan financially. And because so many of the Namikaze clan perished over the years, the wealth seemed to build and build through this archaic stockpiling tradition. Now that you are the last of that clan, centuries worth of possessions, money and memories have been passed down to you…"

"…Knowing full well that this might seem to be rather overwhelming, part of Minato-san's instructions were for me to seal away the vast majority of the funds, around eighty percent, into a special clan account. I wrote out the details of the whole affair and took the liberty of listing every item individually so you would not have to, its all written down on that scarlet sealed scroll" he indicated to the scroll in question by Naruto's hand.

"To finalise the process, your father drew up a writ of inheritance for when you legally come of age and are considered a man in society. Summarised, it states that when you turn sixteen you will inherit your clan's wealth in full, along with the deeds to your family estate and all items held therein. Anything else included under your family name will also be made available to you upon this time. You can visit the manor if you wish, but you are unable to legally live there just yet. It's a precautionary measure I assure you, so as not to broadcast your full identity to the world. All the efforts have been made to keep your anonymity as airtight as possible."

He motioned to the other scroll; "The blue sealed scroll details what is available to you now. Another part of your father's instructions to me stated that I was to set up a savings account in your name, to help you with any financial matters as you grew up. And before you ask, the reason you did not know of this was because I did not want you spending all of your families money on ramen" he said with a smile, chuckling a little at the boys reaction.

Naruto stared, his face a blank slate. Then he grinned, chuckled, and broke out into full laughter all in the space of a minute. He and Sarutobi laughed together for a couple of minutes, before Naruto wiped some tears from his eyes and sighed.

"Thanks for that old man, I really needed that. But what about my mothers clan, what do I inherit from them?" he asked, after calming his nerves and adopting a slightly more serious face.

He waited as Sarutobi took out his pipe, a match and a small box of tobacco. The old man placed some of the leafy matter into the pipe, and struck the match on the side of the handle. He took a couple of lung full's of the burning narcotic, and then faced the boy again. "Thank you for waiting, its just I always need to smoke whenever I talk about your mother…god rest her soul. No wonder my son is such a chain smoker…" the last part was said under his smoky breath, but Naruto caught it.

"Your mother's family moved here some time ago, though they have all long since passed on. They were gifted on their arrival to Konohagakure with a house by your father, a modest place by the standards of some of the more 'noble' clans of the village but a palace for many. It is situated in the Namikaze estate, which itself is in the north-east area of the village. They did not have much in terms of wealth when they arrived, only their personal belongings. But don't worry, all of that is included under what is available to you now, since their house it fair non-descript I thought it would be a suitable place for you to live until your inheritance clears"

"Then why did you stick me in that crappy apartment?" Naruto asked, clearly bemused and irritated. He had lived in that run down tiny place for years not knowing a thing, when he could have been living at his own mother's house safe in the knowledge that he actually came from somewhere.

"Once again, for your own anonymity. Also, it is dictated in your fathers will that I was not to reveal anything until you yourself came to me for answers. I was doing what he asked, nothing more" Sarutobi replied, shaking his head and taking another puff.

"Well I'm moving there now. Is everything really on there like you said, because I may go to the house and pick up a few things…if that's okay with you?" Naruto asked in earnest, trying to put on the 'innocent kid' look he used to use when persuading ANBU to stop chasing him.

The old man smiled, "Of course, I wouldn't have it any other way."

Naruto bowed in respect to the venerable elder, and placed the scrolls carefully in his hip pouch. "Anyway, thanks for everything but I gotta be going. I have three weeks till I meet my jounin-sensei and my new team-mates, so I think a little training needs to be done to rectify the whole 'dead last' thing I got going on. See ya" Naruto waved as he turned and left the office.

**Later**

Naruto kept walking down the street, hoping that the straggler would take the hint and leave him alone. He had decided earlier to make his way back to the apartment as quickly as possible, so that he might view the scrolls he had been given in private. But it was during this journey that he had hit a slight snag.

After a while, Naruto began to notice out of the corner of his eye a small black shape flit from shadow to shadow. He paused just long enough to see a tuft of black hair push out from behind a lamppost before continuing on his way. After about half an hour and another six 'movements' from seemingly empty spaces, Naruto turned and walked towards a bright patch of horizontal fence boards. With a yank, he pulled away at the inconspicuous bulge to reveal a sheepish little boy, skullcap and all.

"Would you quit following me, I've got stuff to do y'know, and I don't need to be entertaining some little kid who cant take a single hit to the head" Naruto said in a exasperated tone.

"My name's not kid, its Konohamaru. And I was following you to ask you something…" he got down on his knee's and clasped his hands together "…could you teach me that Oiroke no Jutsu that you used to beat my Grandpa with. I'll make you my boss and everything if you do, please" he pleaded.

Naruto paused and took his time to look at the boy. 'Must have taken a lot for him to beg like that, he doesn't seem the type for it…' he mulled it over, carefully thinking about the time it would take to teach him the technique. He did have three weeks to train, so an afternoon playing sensei for a kid might not hurt things. "Sure, why not. I'll teach you the jutsu" he replied, watching the kid get up and grin.

**Even Later Than Before **

It had taken awhile, but Konohamaru had finally gotten the basics of the Oiroke no Jutsu down. Big breasts, wide hips, firm butt, all of the most eye catching parts of the female anatomy (from any perverts point of view) accentuated to the furthest point that is anatomically possible. Naruto had originally created it as a means of stopping any male pursuing him after a prank. Plus it had been useful as an experiment, too see if he could actually create his own jutsu based on what he had learnt at the Academy. The results had been spectacular, as it seemed to work on just about any male (and he noted a few females) with brilliant results, stopping them dead in their tracks. It was currently the middle of the afternoon, and the pair of them were sitting down and talking over a nice cold drink provided by the nearest vending machine.

"So, why do you want to beat old man Sandaime so badly?" Naruto enquired.

Konohamaru's face dropped, as he suddenly became very interested in a spot of dirt on his left shoelace. "My grandpa gave me my name, after the village. He said that because this village was strong, and always stood resolute, that it would bring me luck in life. But I don't ever get called it, its always 'Hokage-sama's grandson' this or 'Sandaime's legacy' that. It drives me crazy; nobody looks at me for who I am. That's why I want the Hokage name now, so they will respect me at least for that and not just because of who I'm related to"

Naruto looked up at the clouds floating in the sunny sky and sighed to himself, 'Would I be like this if Dad had lived, always eclipsed by his shadow, and never seen for who I am. Poor kid'.

"Its not that simple. To earn the right to even be **considered** for the title Hokage, you have to be a master shinobi capable of performing over a thousand jutsu and beyond. You need the mental strength to take care of everyone within the village's boundaries, even the entire country itself. But the hardest thing to earn is the respect of others. I tried my hardest to get people to respect me growing up, and it's only recently that I finally got someone to see me for who I am. It took everything I had, and it nearly drove me insane…" he looked at Konohamaru "…but you know what. I would go through it all over again, because having that one person acknowledge you…its all worth it. And that's all it takes is one person. From that single being, many will come to respect you for who you are, even strangers will be able to see you and that's something that everyone should strive for."

Naruto continued, "Becoming Hokage is a long and harsh path that will take what seems an age to accomplish. But for people like us, people who are willing to walk that path without so much as flinching, the reward shall be the greatest of all. It is my dream to become the greatest Hokage this village had ever seen, and I **will** accomplish that no matter what. So if you want to have the Hokage title…" he looked the boy straight in the eyes "…you're gonna have to beat me first"

Konohamaru stared in awe at the older boy, the words he had heard striking deep. For someone only five years his senior, Naruto had spoken words of wisdom he had come to expect from only his Grandpa. He began to look at what he had been doing, just blindly charging at his Grandpa whenever he could, and he saw how stupid it really was. His attention was diverted by a voice from the trees "I've found you at last"

The pair looked up and saw Ebisu, standing on a tree branch glaring at them through his glasses. When he looked at Naruto, his eyes took on a cold look to them, like he wasn't actually looking at Naruto rather he was looking through him. 'Its that damn stare, the same stare I get from everyone else' Naruto thought.

"Honourable Grandson, come with me now. You must not spend any more time with that…boy. If you continue, his reckless ways will rub off on you and you will become an idiot, not worthy of the Hokage name. Now you don't want that do you?"

Konohamaru got up and shouted at the adult "Leave me alone you weirdo, I want to stay with Naruto-neesan, at least he treats me like a real person…" then put his hands into a seal "…eat this you closet pervert, Oiroke no Jutsu!"

A poof of smoke later, and Ebisu was staring at a buxom brunette, completely devoid of any stitch of clothing. He gawked at the sight, all his willpower bent on keeping the blood inside his head from shooting out of his nose. Konohamaru poofed back to normal, "What gives? It's supposed to knock him flat"

"Ugh, I am a gentleman. Such a vulgar technique shall never work on me…" he grabbed Konohamaru by the scarf and pulled with all his strength "…now come with me honourable grandson. I am the fastest way for you to become Hokage, you don't need such fleeting interactions with this riff-raff it will only cloud your judgement. Unlike you the boy doesn't even have any relatives of his own, he will never have your standing so he clings to you as his only means of even seeing the life of a Hokage."

This really pissed of Naruto. Not only had this stiff insulted him, he had insulted Konohamaru's judgement and his family. 'Who is he to dictate how someone lives his or her life. I can tolerate his behaviour to me, but Konohamaru. Let's see him eat this' he thought, bringing his hands together into a cross style seal. "Take this…Kage Bunshin no Jutsu" and in a familiar poof of smoke thirty clones surrounded him.

Ebisu smirked at the display, "Impressive, but a trick so simple as that cannot beat me. I, unlike Mizuki am an elite jounin, one of the best. But if you want to try **'boy'** the go ahead, make your move". He then stared as the clones each made them same seal, a seal he had just a moment seen done by his wayward young charge.

The crowd of Naruto's gathered their chakra to the desired level, and with a loud boom the clearing was filled with smoke. Ebisu was about to move to teach the 'boy' a lesson, but found his limbs heavy. As the smoke cleared, he noticed what was clinging to them. All around him, pressing against his body were 30 nubile naked girls, each purring his name. He could not help himself, and in an instant Ebisu was flying through the air like a rocket propelled by a stream of his own vital fluids shooting out of his nose.

Another poof of smoke later, and Naruto and Konohamaru were rolling about clutching their sides with laughter. "Did you see the look on his face" Naruto said as he panted for breath, doing an impression of a flying Ebisu. The pair laughed for some time, just enjoying the feeling of having fun with a friend. Wiping away some tears, Naruto sighed to himself "I think I'll call that one Haremu no Jutsu" he said with a chuckle. Adopting a more serious expression, Naruto took a deep breath and gazed at Konohamaru "Remember Konohamaru, the road to becoming Hokage is long, hard, with no shortcuts whatsoever"

"Then you'd better watch out oniisan, because now were rivals" the boy replied, smiling proudly.

**Elsewhere **

From his clairvoyant ball, Sarutobi smiled at the sight before him. 'At last he is beginning to grow up, and Konohamaru has learnt some patience as well. Maybe now I will get some peace around here' he thought with a chuckle. Moving over to the window of his office, he gazed swept over Konoha before resting on the Fourth's stone face. 'Minato-san, to think you could accomplish such a thing. You never cease to amaze me my friend'

**Back to Naruto **

After walking Konohamaru back to his house, which just so happened to be the Hokage residence, Naruto made for his apartment like the hounds of hell itself were chasing after him. Though he had managed to keep it in check through the afternoon, his curiosity had been steadily building up during his time teaching Konohamaru the Oiroke no Jutsu. And now, the desire to sate his curiosity by looking upon his inheritance and his fathers will had become maddeningly insatiable. He wanted to read them in private, so the moment his feet crossed the threshold of the apartment, he quickly did an about face, bolted the door shut (years of break-in's from drunken angry villagers had taught him the value of a good lock) and closed his window curtains. His hands couldn't work at the seals fast enough, shaking with excitement as they were.

He decided to view the orange sealed scroll last, as it would probably contain the most important information (save the best for last and all that). He unfurled the scroll detailing his current inheritance and the total for his saving account. Most of the initial content focused on the steps taken to setting up of the smaller account holding the money currently available to him. It was accompanied by an in-depth synopsis on what investments had been made in his name (apparently the old man had decided to buy him 30 of shares in a company that produced 'Instant Ramen cups').

But what Naruto was most interested in at the moment was the current figure of his savings account. His breath caught in his chest as he saw the number of zero's, it was at the very least six. He shook his head to clear it, and looked over the rest of what was available to him. First of all in his mind was his mother's house, the house where the Uzumaki had come seeking refuge after being forced from the homeland. He would go see it tomorrow, and maybe his dad's house too if he had the time. Then with trepidation he moved on to the details of his 'coming-of-age inheritance'. Still giddy from learning of the money he had at his disposal now, he was unprepared for what he read now.

What the old man said about his clan had been right, they were wealthy. He would inherit when he turned eighteen an entire district in the 'rich' area of the village, bordering on the lands under the Hyuga name. There was also a small holding in Kusakagure, the family home in Konohakagure, a shipping company based in Mizu no Kuni, and the right to stand on the village council if he wanted to. His clan's status as a founding village clan gave him that privilege, and he snorted with laughter when he thought of the reactions of the old stiff's if he was to ever exercise that right.

His eyes then drifted to the money that was sealed away. He thought the amount available now was large, but this was ridiculous. He almost fainted at the total amount that was sealed away, the term 'More money than God' came to mind. He felt giddy, almost to the point where he might have fallen backwards and not gotten up. Wiping the line of droll down his face, he quickly banished the thoughts of how much ramen he could afford from now on. He looked over to the orange sealed scroll, his father's personal letter to him. Steadily righting himself into a steadier seating position, Naruto broke the seal and started to read.

**Author Notes**

Okay, I'll own up, I did cheat a little with this chapter. I decided to merge both existing parts of 'A Past Awakening' because a) it made sense, and b) I couldn't come up with enough padding for either chapter. What you are seeing here is a preview of whats to come. The next two chapters will definitely be pushed into one as I have done here, with more content added to smooth everything out. Anyway, I hope to have the next re-posted chapters up again within the next week (since I have just broke for Christmas break from University and I have more free time…barring work of course) and by New Year this fic will be back on its feet like I promised.

Here is a layout of what the story will eventually look like –

Prologue

Chapter 1: A Legend is Born

Chapter 2: A Past Awakening

Chapter 3: Wisdom of Time (merging 'Vault of Time' and 'Wisdom of Generations' into one)

Chapter 4: A Team is Formed (merging 'Back to the Academy' and 'Trial of Team 7')

Chapter 5: The Joy of the D-rank

Chapter 6: Journey to the Waves

Chapter 7: When Demons Clash

Chapter 8: Legends of Old

Chapter 9: New chapter

There's just one issue I would like to vent about. Wikipedia. Has anyone been on the Naruto page recently, and seen just how much they have messed around with it. Not months ago you could go on the website and look up EVERYTHING that had been documented on our favourite manga, there was an extensive jutsu list, every country was mentioned, we had pictures to look at. And now most characters have been shrunk down to next to nothing, summons has been reduced to 'Toads' and 'Snakes' and you actually don't learn a thing from reading the miniscule paragraphs that have been placed. So now I have to go elsewhere and brave the fan-based websites, where information is difficult to come across untouched by bias or improper translation.

**Shinten Kouyou Fuin** - Mind Body Enhancement Seal

**Oiroke no Jutsu** – Sexy technique

**Haremu no Jutsu** – Harem technique

**Mahi Fuin** – Paralysing Seal

**Shinzui Hashi** – Spirit Bridge

**Shiki Fujin** – Dead Demon Consuming Seal

**Konohagakure no Sato** – the Village Hidden in the Leaves

**Ho no Kuni** – the Land of Fire

**Uzumaki no Kuni** – the Land of Whirlpools

**Mizu no Kuni** – the Land of Water

**Kirigakure no Sato** – the Village Hidden in the Mist


	4. Chapter 3: Wisdom of Time

**Naruto Legacy of the Hokages**

**By Lysander45**

**Disclaimer:** I do not and never will own Naruto, no matter how much I want too. Any and all characters, jutsu and places that I create are mine; if you want to use them please ask permission.

" Speech

' Thoughts

() Jutsu translations/authors voice/usual use for brackets that I cannot be bothered to describe

Italic memories/writing/Spirit voice

Bold emphasis on word

… Pause during speech

**Chapter 3 – Wisdom of Time**

Life was good. Scratch that, life was so good it should be criminal. It had been a week since Naruto had learnt of his origins, and in that single week so much had happened. Beginning with his graduation from academy student to genin level shinobi, a sequence of events had rolled into motion as if they were a series of dominoes. He had beaten Mizuki and in doing so unwittingly unlocked the Shinten Koyou Fuin that lay dormant within his brain. This in turn had led to an impromptu trip to Shinzui Hashi, a netherworld that existed between the boundaries of the land of the living and the realm of the dead. There he met a certain man called Namikaze Minato, who revealed himself to be his father and the creator of both the seal and realm itself. After that, he had gone to the old Hokage Sarutobi and received the scrolls detailing his inheritance left to him by his parents. During this handover, he encountered and befriended a young boy called Konohamaru, a boy who wished to become Hokage. After teaching the kid a jutsu, handing down some words of advice and trumping a pedantic pervert, Naruto left to read the scrolls of his inheritance in private. He learnt from one scroll that he was now exceedingly rich, being the last of his clan and what not. But that was not the end of things.

**Flashback**

Naruto swallowed, and with shaking hands tentatively broke the seal on the scroll, the scroll his father had personally written for him. Slowly, he unrolled the scroll as carefully as he could, so as not to damage it in any way. Then he began to read the words written on the paper, softly and slowly to both keep any information from possible listeners (he lived in a shinobi village for Pete's sake, it could happen) and allow himself to properly absorb everything in.

_Son_

_If you are reading this, then at least one of two things had occurred. One, the time-release I built into the Shinten Koyou Fuin has worn off as I had planned and you are a young man of at least 15. Or two, that old geezer Sarutobi couldn't keep his damn trap shut and you happen to be a little younger._

_Most likely it is the former, but you never know. Now, I am assuming that you have discovered the connection that your mind can make to me via the Shinzui Hashi, and that I have told you all that you need to know._

_I also assume that by now you are a ninja, chuunin at least I mean you are my son and no child of mine would stay genin for long…I hope. Anyway, to the business of your training. Enclosed at the end of this scroll are instructions for the Shinzui Hashi, so that you can learn and master its many possible functions. There may still be other applications for it, so don't be afraid to experiment within reason. Master it, and we shall be a step closer to making you into something great._

_And to the rest of your training, here are directions for the secret training grounds that I used when I was alive. No one but the old geezer and myself know about that place, so you can rest safe in the fact that you will not be disturbed in any way. First, go to the northeast corner of the village and find a grove of cherry blossom trees. Head north from there until you find an old abandoned cabin. By that cabin is a path that leads up and into the Hokage Mountain behind the village, this will lead you to 'Earth meets Sky'. Find the seal on the middle boulder by the lake, and swipe your blood across it to unlock the door to the Vault. From there, I can only recommend you build yourself a good base with chakra control exercises. Also, you may want to visit a shop owned by a man named Ryu. Its hidden away in the market district, past the store that sells pickled food then left down the alleyway, you cant miss it._

_Good luck my son, and remember that I love you._

Naruto put down the scroll and stared into middle distance. 'Dad…you really are something. To plan ahead years in advance, basing your entire idea on me like this' he thought, as he rolled up the scroll and contemplated his next move. 'The northeast corner of the village, it'll be more noticeable me going to this 'Vault' Dad mentioned if I stay here…' and with that he began formulating a plan.

**End Flashback**

Upon learning about his inheritance and reading the letter, Naruto immediately decided that if he were to have a new life, he would need better accommodation, preferably newer and larger than the tiny apartment he had lived in since he was four years old. One place immediately sprung to mind, the house that belonged to his mother. It was legally his, and more importantly it belonged to his mother's family. Plus it was secluded away from the main portion of the village which meant that he could finally get some privacy from the occasional plucky drunk who gets it into his head that he can slay the 'beast' and save everyone so his wife will finally want to have kids (true story).

Following the directions he had been given by the old Hokage, he managed to find the compound in little over an hour. The northeast section of the village, far from the hustle and bustle was dubbed by some of the younger villagers as the 'retirement sector', as it was mostly filled with the older residents and clans of the village. With the Hokage Mountain on its northern side, the place reeked of traditions and musty values of former generations. Considering the constantly changing aesthetic values of the village, the date of construction for the now empty Namikaze sector could be placed at little over one hundred and twenty three years ago. It appeared to be one of the largest compounds within the clan 'village', though he was yet to see all of houses in the immediate area. He knew which compound was the one that housed his mother's clan right away, mostly because the kanji that created 'Uzumaki' were hammered into the wooden doors in polished steel.

The main house itself was a grand sight for the blonde's eyes. Raised off the ground on a strong wooden foundation, the main house was two stories high with the roofs and balconies supported by finely carved and cut beams. On the ground floor every doorway was closed off by a shoji, and dusty tatami mats covered the floors, it was like a walk-in lecture on his village's heritage. There were some more modern touches to the house, such as the addition of electrical sockets and plumbing in the bathroom and kitchen.

Upstairs everything was a little more modern still, with actual wooden doors replacing shoji in the entrances. Each room had its own charm and sense of individuality, even when the beds and desks within were identical. Naruto entered one room in particular and his breath refused to leave his lungs. This reaction was drawn from a particular picture on the wooden desk within the room. This picture was covered in a layer of dust, which Naruto quickly removed with his sleeve. The object of the pictures attention was a particularly beautiful woman with long auburn hair, holding a blonde haired baby boy wrapped in a white blanket. Written in the corner was a small message _'Uzumaki Kushina and little Naruto, the two most beautiful people in my life – Namikaze Minato'_, and Naruto could feel tears welling in his eyes.

Completing the compounds theme of tradition was its large garden, adjacent Shinto shrine and dojo. These buildings were built in the same style of the main house, with small alterations to suite their individual purpose. The Shinto shrine was to the rear end of the garden; marked by a cobbled path, stone lanterns and a large torii painted in pure white paint. Its singular entrance was closed off with an ornate Teague doorway that was guarded by two komainu statues. Inside the shrine was paved with square tiles that were in desperate need of a clean, it seemed that at some point animals had used the holy ground as a space for their nests. The kami that the jinguji was dedicated to was Sarutahiko, the kami of earth and sole bearer of title kunitsukami. In accordance with its title of jinguji, there was an area dedicated to the calm deity Buddha. Even though it was small in comparison to the greater shrines present in Konoha, the shrine possessed all of the facilities of a shrine. The furthest room behind the stone statue of Sarutahiko was marked with the kanji that named it as the haiden, and through those doors was a door marked with the kanji naming it the honden, the room containing the goshintai. There was a chozuya for cleansing purposes, and a small kaguraden for the ritual dances.

The garden was particularly opulent, or at least it would have been without the decade of neglect that seemed so common with the compound. Somebody had clearly loved the garden a long time ago; they had taken their time to craft it into a work of art. It was tiered, with the upper slopes dedicated to the shrine and a large koi pond. A subsequent stream ran from the pond and down a stone waterfall, and meandered around the garden like a watery snake. Meant for quite contemplation, the many stone paths of the garden crossed to different points of consequence. Whenever it crossed with the man-made stream, a beautiful stone bridge swept over the water to the other side. One path led to the shrine, another to a small pagoda meant for the holding of tea ceremonies, another to the dojo. Most of the plants that had been present in the gardens hay day were only visible in the forms of empty patches of soil, though there were some tree's in still clinging to life. Naruto recognized some of them to be maple trees, and fortunately for them he was a fairly competent gardener.

The dojo like the house was built with a sense of tradition in mind. Everything was laid out in a precise manner, with equal spacing between the wooden pillars holding up the roof being one of the mathematically planned features of the building. There were three smaller rooms separated from the 'main' training area by shoji. One meant for weapons and yoroi, since there were several racks and spaces for storage within. Interestingly there were some weapons still present, though Naruto did not check the state they were in. Another room housed the kamidana, upon which stood the dojo kun (carved into a stone plaque) and some other small artifacts. Within the final room were several old hanging scrolls, which upon reading revealed a strange revelation to Naruto. Each individual scroll detailed a particular fable; story or historical account related in some small way to the Namikaze and Uzumaki clans. The Namikaze clan's scrolls were slightly more worn that the Uzumaki's, which appeared to be recreations copied once the clan set up residence in the compound. The originals, Naruto surmised, must have been destroyed with the Uzumaki's ancestral home during the desolation of Uzumaki no Kuni.

Naruto, exceedingly pleased with his new accommodation moved in that very same day. It didn't take long to move out of the apartment, what with him owning so little to begin with. He then spent the remainder of the week buying whatever he felt was needed to furnish the house, not really caring for how much he was spending. He had enough money to buy the majority of the village if he possibly wanted to, so a new bed here and some more modern kitchen appliances wouldn't make much of dent in his finances. He spent a good two days making sure that the compound became presentable and clean. The dojo was outfitted with new training equipment and cleaned in the traditionally ritualized souji, and the same respect was paid to the shrine as well. When he was done, he had a house that was both cosy and minimalist, just how he wanted it to be. It was now Thursday 3rd of March, one full week after his 'graduation' and all of the events that followed, and Naruto decided that it was time to visit 'the Vault'.

First, he headed in the direction of the cherry tree grove that had been mentioned in the letter. After searching the village edge for an hour and a half, he asked a passing couple who pointed him in the right direction (only after having a small argument about whether or not they should help 'it'). After that it didn't take long before he stumbled upon it, pushing through a mesh of thick undergrowth that seemed to have not been passed through in a while. Naruto could see why such a spot could be considered a romantic haven within the village, it truly was beautiful. Five large cherry blossom trees formed a ring around a pillar of rock, which had a flat area almost like a seat carved at its base. It was large enough for two people to sit side by side, and the rock was so smoothly carved it was difficult to tell if it were man made or a natural occurrence. The cherry blossom trees littered the ground with their fallen bloom's to create a pink carpet, and their sweet fragrance filled the air with a scent so thick it made you feel light headed, euphoric.

Upon closer inspection of the stone, Naruto noticed that all over the natural miracle were hundreds of kanji. They were names, names of every man and women that had sat on the stone seat together under loves spell. These names were testimonies to the place beauty, silent mementos of love throughout the years, a small place of serenity in an otherwise war-ridden world. It took a huge heave of willpower from Naruto to move on and not just stand there and let time pass. 'Need to come back here again sometime…try and find okaasan and pap's names' he thought with a twinge of sadness. Then he remembered that he would pass through here every time he went up this training area his father had mentioned, so his mood perked up somewhat.

He headed north, half trekking on foot half leaping through the close-knit trees. It took him another half an hour of this before the tree line stopped abruptly opening into a clearing at the base of the mountain. It was so sudden he had to do a double take, one moment there were trees and nothing but tree's, next he was looking up at a sheer rock face. There, built not two feet from the mountain was the old wooden cabin mentioned in the scroll, and just like the scroll said to the side of it was the stairs. Now, stairs would be a loose way of describing what he saw.

Leading steeply up the mountainside was a long winding path of steps roughly hewn from the rock face. Some were larger than others, whilst some slanted at an angle. Its one safety feature was a rusty handrail that appeared to have been hammered into the rock, though most of it seemed to be broken and there were several spots that Naruto could see from his vantage point where the railing was missing altogether. There were even several large patches of ivy growing in wild patches up and down the cliff face, like a green carpet against the sandy rock. Naruto couldn't help but gulp at the dangerous looking sight, but with curiosity as to what is at the top fuelling his resolve, he continued up the 'staircase' with slow deliberate steps. It was hard, the steps irregularity keeping his body tense, and before he was even half way he could feel his calves' burn and the breath catching in his chest due to the slightly thinner mountain air. After one or two breaks, being careful to keep close to the rock by his right, Naruto got to the top. Although he tried to stop himself, once again the breath froze in his chest as he gasped for air. If the cherry blossom grove was beautiful, then 'Earth meets Sky' was simply inspiring.

'Earth meets Sky' was actually a large basin-like valley at the top of the mountain the size of several football fields. And though it seemed strange that a place like this had gone unnoticed all these years, Naruto reasoned that it was because people just didn't travel this way, it was perfectly isolated. If he hadn't received directions, he would still be oblivious to its existence. 'Dad, you unbelievable sonofabitch' he thought in wonder, and with gusto he began to explore the area.

'Earth meets Sky' was an amalgamation of green fields, woodland, and sand with a lake at the very rear of valley. Cliff faces several hundreds of feet high surrounded Naruto, at an angle of about thirty degree's that enhanced the bowl-like feel of the place. Huge trees ringed the basin in a perfect circle that was several tree's thick, and in certain spots small woods were formed as more tree's bubbled forth from the border. Each tree was vast and ancient looking, like so many of the more revered tree's that popped up throughout Konohagakure no Sato. If Naruto's memories from his time in the Academy served correctly, those particular trees were grown over a short period of time by the famous Mokuton jutsu of the Shodaime Hokage. The majority of the small valley was covered in a vast grassy plain, which undulated between subtle hills and flat ground. The grass was long and wild, coming up to Naruto's chest in places.

To the north was a roaring waterfall that spewed out of a large mouth-like hole in the mountainside. The water gushed out in a torrent, falling into a large blue lake ringed with small rocks and great boulders. Naruto took the time to gaze appreciatively at the lake from its stony border, wondering just how deep it was to earn its dark blue colour. Towards what must have been the centre of this ring of rocks were three that stood out from the rest, a darker shade compared to the others. A small gap to the left of these three provided just enough space for a portion of the lake water to spew out into a large stream, which trickled and meandered its way across the basin in an elaborate snaking pattern.

As he moved through the 'tree border' Naruto came across three distinct clearings, patches where the trees did not grow. They were clearly man-made, and each appeared to be designed with its own features and unique sense of purpose. The first clearing he came across was definitely themed around taijutsu training. There were several wood and stone training posts, the types where a shinobi could hit away for days and all they would do was scratch the surface. They seemed to have been used some time ago, since the wooden posts had area's where the bark was 'newer' and the stone sported several obvious chips and indentations. There was hard circular area where the grass barely grew, which Naruto could only guess was a sparring spot which had been treated with some sort of repellent to prevent the growth of vegetation. Finishing the taijutsu themed clearing were a set of tree trunks marked by bulls eyes carved deep into the bark, placed there for ballistic based training in kunai, shurikan and other throwing weapons.

The next clearing was themed around meditation and the training that strengthens a shinobi's mind. In the centre were three large and incredibly smooth tree stumps, which must have been meant to serve as seats. Behind the three stumps was a pond of all things, though there was no koi swimming about within it. The only thing Naruto could see was a family of toads, happily splashing around in the water. All around the clearing in a strewn circle were some surprisingly ornate braziers. They were meant for the burning of incense to aid in the spiritual training was took place within the circle, but at some point they must have been blown over by wind since none were standing erect. The third clearing was empty, save for several trenches and area's of scorched earth, and a sign that read 'Warning! Ninjutsu training can result in death or possible severe injuries…train safe!' The sign in particular caused a bead of sweat to drop from Naruto's forehead, strangely embarrassed as he was by the rather obvious statement.

The strangest area of the basin was to its western edge, which seemed to completely go against the overall 'Konoha/nature' theme that dominated 'Earth meets Sky'. The area in question was a semi-circular pit like area of black sand, with moved in an almost fluid motion in the breeze. Behind the small dunes was a path that led further into another area carved from the mountainside by time and nature. Naruto followed the path, wincing at his discovery on just how hot the sand was. It was incredibly warm to the point of burning, and just what would cause the temperature anomaly eluded the boy for the moment, though he found his answer up the path.

The path through the rock led to a natural hot spring, large enough to accommodate several people. Stooping low at the waters edge, he put his hand in and found the temperature was perfect for bathing, not too hot and not too cold. The geothermal heat that caused the waters temperature seemed to also be heating the sand in the main valley. Though these hot springs were natural, like the others found in the bathhouses in the main hub of Konoha, there were some more modern additions to the hidden location. To the side of the large spring somebody had built a basic changing cubicle the size of a standard log cabin, one large main room and two divided rooms marked with the kanji for male and female. 'I wonder if oyaji built this place…nah, too old for him' Naruto thought to himself as he exited the cabin building.

After he had finished checking out the whole area, Naruto decided it was time to find 'The Vault', the second ambiguous name on his fathers scroll. He walked to the three largest boulders in the circle that ringed the ringed the lake, the ones that had a slightly different colour compared to the others around them. "Find the seal on the middle boulder by the lake, where is the seal" he murmured, his hands roving over the stony surface, searching for any sign of a seal of some description.

He found the seal hidden behind some grass at the base of the boulder, partially buried in the earth. After a little digging using a kunai from his pouch, Naruto was able to look at the key to opening 'The Vault' in the clear sunlight. It was a small plaque with a strange orange crest at the centre of a swirling design. Naruto shrugged at the sight, and following the written instructions bit his thumb to draw blood before swiping it deftly across the crest in the seals centre. There was a brief pause, then, Naruto began to hear a rumbling sound. The ground beneath him began to shake, and the noise rose in pitch until it was a deafening roar. It was joined by the painful sound of stone grinding against stone, as a large slab of earth behind and to the right of Naruto caved slowly inwards like a pair of doors being pushed open. Naruto watched, his hands over his ears in a vain attempt to drown out the noise. After what seemed a long time, the stone 'doors' finished opening with a resounding boom and Naruto was finally able to get up and investigate.

The 'doors' had opened to reveal a tunnel, burrowing deep into the ground in the direction of the lake. With caution Naruto began to walk downwards, squinting in the darkness, the only light supplied by tiny candles placed in neat symmetrical hollows in the walls of the tunnel. After walking twenty or so paces noticed another seal identical to the one under the boulder. 'Wasn't told about that in the scroll' he thought, and acting on impulse swiped the seal with his still slightly bloody thumb. The wound had healed quickly, but the blood was still there if only barely.

Once more there was a deep rumbling which merged into a roaring, grating noise as the 'doors' closed shut behind him, much faster than they speed they opened. "Crap!" Naruto shouted as he tried to rush at the closing gap, but he was too late. Some dust fell through the gap, but the door was definitely shut. Resisting the urge to start panicking, Naruto took a deep breath to calm himself and his rapidly beating heart.

"Guess there's only one way now, serves me right for my damned curiosity. It was so obvious, but I fell right into the 'Ooooooh big red button' thing. This is so embarrassing" he groaned, and began pacing onwards down the tunnel. The steps were slippery in some places, puddles of water here and there forming from a steady drip from the ceiling. 'Must be directly under the lake' he thought, praying that the earth between him and a **LOT** of water would hold.

He continued walking until, after the drip of the water above stopped he reached another set of doors. These were two large doors made from metal, with two brass rings to open it and the spiral symbol of Konoha's 'Will of Fire' embossed over the centre. With a heave, Naruto pushed at them, only feeling resistance the first foot before they swung wide open with such sudden speed that he fell flat on his face in a comic splat. Standing up, Naruto gazed at what his father had called 'The Vault'. It was a huge man-made cave carved out from inside the mountain. Three stories high in normal building terms, the entire area were lit with the same candles from the tunnel, casting an eerie orange glow that reflected off the dark rock walls.

Naruto walked into a circular 'lobby' area that had a small geyser-like fountain bubbling up from the floor within a circular pool. It was like walking into a history museum or something along those lines, which Naruto noted to be a very relevant thought since this place was supposed to house the villages past. The entire lower levels floor was made of a kind of blue marble. Behind the lobby were the mind-boggling contents of 'The Vault', what could only be described as the mother of all libraries. About three foot from the strangely out of place fountain were three short steps that led down to the first floor, flanked on either side by two flights of steps that led to the second floor. Row upon row of massive bookcases, built with a frightening architectural precision. Each bookcase was wooden and varnished with a heavy brown lacquer, twelve feet vertically and sixteen feet long horizontally with twelve shelves spaced a foot apart. Each shelf had a width of about a foot and a half.

Following the near complete circular contour of the lobby, the long rows of bookcases started a foot from the edge. Numbering in a total of fourteen consecutive rows, each of the initial series of long rows contained a total of ten bookcases. Between each row was an aisle two feet wide, and at the end of each row a ladder to reach the higher shelves. The ladders were placed on smooth wheel set in grooves along the stone floor, so one could easily move from one end to another with little effort. Simply rugs of flak green rolled along the aisles floor, to create a sense of comfort Naruto supposed.

Great stone columns twelve and a half feet tall supported the floor of the second floor, spaced evenly between the bookcases after every second bookcase (simply put the order along the row goes bookcase, bookcase, column, bookcase, bookcase, column, etc). After the first initial row were series of desks stretching along the length of the first floors contour from one wall to another. They were back to back and built in the style seen in monasteries, at a diagonal angle with a lip at the bottom to support the text placed upon it. After the row of desks, a second row of bookcases followed suite still numbering at ten bookcases with the evenly spaced columns. This pattern of bookcases, desks, bookcases repeated itself twice more, leading to a total of four rows.

This numerical precision repeated itself with the second floor, except the bookcases here were slightly taller at fourteen feet tall instead of the twelve feet below it. Once more there were a total of four rows of bookcases, interspaced with three long lines of back to back desks. Each row once again numbered in a total of ten sixteen foot long bookcases, with stone columns evenly spaced between to support the roof of the immense room. To save time Naruto created some Kage Bunshin to roam the aisles between the rows, and when they released themselves he was suddenly hit by the sheer magnitude of the buildings size.

Minato hadn't been kidding when he said that he had sealed away Konoha's history as part of his fail-safe plan. Each bookcase was filled with books, scrolls and other literary items of such worth. They were organized very rigidly to save time for the reader, which was a great bonus in as large a place as this. For example, ninjutsu took up a massive section of the western first floor. Whoever placed the information down here had taken his or her time to painstakingly split the techniques into their particular elemental groups, be it suiton, katon or even the more generalised ninpo group. These groups were then divided again into sub-groups for their different ranks of power and difficulty. So, if you wanted to learn a B-rank suiton jutsu, then all you had to do was look through the B-rank shelves in the suiton jutsu section. This continued beyond ninjutsu into taijutsu and genjutsu, as well as the other facets of a shinobi's life such as the rules and codes of conduct. It was helpful yet maddening at the same time, Naruto made a mental note to ask his father about the system personally.

But the content of this amazing library was not limited to jutsu or training techniques. It contained books and scrolls on nearly every subject imaginable, concerning the village, the land itself and even those beyond it. Individual clan history, records of unique species found with the countries, records of particular works of art done within the village, birth certificates, you name it and it was there. All of the other lands from Tsuchi to Mizu were covered as well, though to a slightly lesser extent. But what was there would be highly useful to Naruto. In a world where alliances and wars went hand in hand, knowing allies traditions and an enemy's geography were powerful assets.

Naruto gazed at everything. Here he had all the scrolls and knowledge he could ever want to train from, than he could possibly ever even read. And he was the only person who knew of its existence, bar maybe the Sandaime, that old coot had a weird habit of knowing EVERYTHING. Unable to help himself, Naruto stopped at several points during his wanderings to just stand and laugh, expressing the sheer joy he felt radiating from his very soul. The sound reverberated throughout the entire cavern, echoing long after he had finished.

One of the aisles on the eastern side of the library led to an actual door of all things, which in turn led to a huge (he was only getting used to how damned large everything was) room filled with weapons racks. It seemed that not only had his father sealed away the combined history of the entire continent in scrolls, but he had also had collected any weapons that could be useful to the future generations. Think of a weapon and it was there in some form or the other. There were whole groups of archaic and ornate katana, kunai and shurikan of all shapes and sizes. Nagitana, spears and old shinobi armour dating back to before the Secret Wars. There were even, separated from the rest on a dais, a selection of ninja puppets. Some had human-like appearances, whilst others were something else entirely. An example was a large bird-like puppet that Naruto could only guess was for travel or reconnaissance. And just like the scrolls in the main 'library', everything was painstakingly ordered into offensive, defensive and specialized categories.

Walking through aisles of the massive library, Naruto noticed that at the end of each fourth row was a corridor hewn from the rock leading to a small round room. Within each room were stone staircases spiralling up from the first floor to the second, as well as several newer corridors stretching outwards. Each was perfectly dug out, muck like the passage leading down to 'the Vault' from 'Earth meets Sky', and like that passage they were lit by ever burning candles. Other corridors split off from these, many leading further and further into the earth like a giant anthill dug from the bedrock of the mountain, tunnels upon tunnels upon tunnels.

If a model was ever built detailing 'the Vault' and its contents, then the many passages and corridors would appear like a lattice of intersecting lines. In all there were 20 levels below the library and one above the libraries second floor, the candles casting their eerie light throughout. Much of these passages led to sections dubbed as 'sectors' In each sector were a set number of rooms outfitted for sleeping and living accommodation, with large communal kitchens, recreational large 'living rooms' and communal bathing rooms to add comfort. These had a sort of underground 'bath' filled with hot water rising up from the floor like a hot spring. In short, everything an entire village would need to survive in some comfort. Beyond these sectors, there passages that led to empty rooms, some led to what looked very much like several adjoined classrooms. It was like the entire village had been recreated as an underground nest, complete with accommodation for the people, school space and a hospital.

As he and his Kage Bunshin moved through the underground maze, Naruto came to understand the true purpose of 'the Vault'. It was not been conceived with the sole intention of preserving the villages history, but with conserving the villages life itself. If Konohagakure were to ever come under attack, and defence seemed hopeless, the villagers and shinobi could retreat within this great underground fortress where they could whether out the storm and emerge to start afresh.

'A failsafe plan indeed…' Naruto mused as he walked through the candle-lit corridors. 'I…n the case of an unavoidable invasion or emergency, the Hokage could evacuate the villagers here, far away from the village and the enemy where they can survive for possibly months undetected. Who decided to create such a place, and how did Dad learn about it. I'll need to ask him about that'

But the surprise were yet to end as 'the Vault' continued to reveal its mysteries to Naruto, who managed to stumble back to the library after finding a map of the complex. At the far end of the library opposite to 'the Vaults' entrance was one large staircase leading straight to the surface on a forty five degree angle. Naruto followed it to the top, and found that it eventually led to another metal door, except unlike the entrance this one slide into the rock instead of swinging wide open. Through the door he went, coming out to what can only be described as the greatest mountain view he had ever seen. Yes he was still young, but this would remain at the top of the list for a while.

He came out into a stone courtyard carved from the mountainside. It must have been the peak of the mountain because the air was thinner than before, but thankfully there were railings to stop him from falling over because that would be embarrassing. No that there was anyone else there, but Naruto stood for principles and it was the principle of falling over…whatever. Just like the staircase leading up to 'Earth meets Sky', there was a winding and steep path leading down the mountainside to Naruto's right. 'It must go down to the other side of the mountain, in case the village was ever raided they would have an entire mountain between them and the enemy if they escaped using this route' he thought, and turned to head back into 'The Vault'.

Pleased with everything he had seen, Naruto returned to the main room and began collecting some scrolls from the library that he thought would be a good starting point for his training.

**Later**

Naruto had returned home after finishing in the vault, noticing that he had taken most of the remaining hours of the day exploring and learning about everything in 'The Vault' and 'Earth meets Sky'. The sun had already set in the sky when he finally entered his new home, and after a quick dinner of instant ramen with some leftover tempura (unknown to many, Naruto prided himself on having decent culinary skills. He just liked ramen…a lot), Naruto decided to call it quits for the day. Placing the scrolls in a small chest he had bought for safe keeping, he closed his eyes and fell asleep.

'What a day' was the last thought in his mind before he drifted into peaceful slumber.

**The Next Day**

Today was a new day. The sun streamed in through the window and landed on the still sleeping form of one Uzumaki Naruto. Tired from the return hike from the valley based training area 'Earth meets Sky' and the fortress-like underground library and village 'the Vault', Naruto had slept like the dead. The light shone and in his eyes, and he tentatively opened them and yawned. He stretched, shook his head to clear any cobwebs, and then went about his morning routine. It took a full half an hour of get up, shower, eat breakfast, brush teeth, etc before he was fully awake.

But now he was up and ready for whatever today held. From his point of view, life had thrown so many curve balls at him in the past couple of weeks; he might as well try and anticipate whatever weird coincidence or meeting might come at him today, tomorrow or whatever.

He saved getting dressed for last. Wandering to the wardrobe by his king size bed, he pulled open the varnished doors and looked at his new clothes. They had arrived yesterday whilst he was away, which was lucky in a way since he wanted to keep his new life as secret as possible for as long as possible from the rest of the village. Most of the people were and would be hostile towards him for some time to come, and this attitude affected many facets of Naruto's life, case in point shopping. He could not go anywhere without being sworn at, threatened and taken for a ride by every shopkeeper in the whole stinking village. If the goods he was sold were not overpriced they were usually of a deliberately shoddy nature, sometimes both depending on where he went. This happened in food shops, weapon smith's clothing shops you name it. The clothing one was a particular hindrance. The orange jumpsuit that he was so infamous for wearing was not his first choice, it had been forced into his hands years ago sizes too big by a particularly boisterous and very large shop keeper. The only reason he had not argued the point at the time was because he was both young, and the woman had some very sharp sewing needles within close proximity, and Naruto did not want his ass to become a pin cushion.

So he had taken the time to source a store that hand made its clothing and also delivered, and placed an order for an outfit he had designed himself. It was loosely based around his current orange clothing, but with some changes that he believed would benefit his shinobi career. He ordered a suit much like his old one, except the orange colouring was all but gone completely. Instead he chose to have a top designed made with a much more durable black fabric, with hard inner padding for extra protection. Built into the chest pectoral area were two pouches designed to hold three scrolls each, like the one he had seen on the flak jackets worn by more senior shinobi. There was some orange present, in a two thin bands stretching along the stomach area of the outfit. He had asked in particular for a spiralling symbol to be emblazoned on the left shoulder. Beneath the jacket he wore a metal mesh vest for further protection.

The lower half of his new clothing, the pants (or trousers depending on who you talk to) was now completely black. Like the top half, extra storage pouches had been included. And like the top half, these were compact pouches designed to hold scrolls or small amount of kunai and shurikan. When he first thought of them, he had initially questioned the decision as being too excessive, but then he reasoned that you can't be too careful. There was also the extra protective padding between the layers of fabric that had been included in the jumper.

His original kunai/shurikan holster had been modified from the standard design. The compartments had been widened and deepened to include more projectiles, and the fabric had been sealed with an internal waterproof lining to keep the weapons dry. This particular feature held true for all of the new pouches he now had. Then there was the hip pouch usually held in place above a shinobi's buttock, meant to carry larger items and the more esoteric kit used by shinobi. The sizes differed slightly depending upon the person, but Naruto had opted for a single large size hip pouch that went from one side of his hip to the other for maximum carrying space. To complete the new image, he had sent his precious hitai-ate to the store to have its blue cloth replaced by a longer black cloth. It had been given to him by Iruka-sensei and to Naruto its value was beyond any sum of money, but he had decided to change the cloth to keep in with his new life. Everything was different now inside; he had matured overnight into a new person, so his outer appearance had to reflect that change. Black was a neutral colour, and better suited to the life of a shinobi.

To maintain the carefully set cloak of anonymity around his change in lifestyle, Naruto had purposely left a Kage Bunshin wrapped within a henge to make him appear to be an old man. The clone had paid the delivery woman personally for the clothes, even going so far as to reply "My grandson will be so pleased with his new clothes" to further the deceit. It had worked, and after hanging them up within Naruto' room the clone had dispelled itself, alerting the original at 'Earth meets Sky' of what had occurred.

Once he was dressed, Naruto paused to take out his 'to do' list, which he had written immediately after reading the scrolls on his inheritance. It was still another two weeks until he had to return to the academy for his team assignment, but he had wanted to get as much done in that time as he could. Several boxes on the list had already been ticked off, but there were still one or two things to be done.

He had moved to a new location further away from the hustle and bustle, which would save him from being bothered in any way. He had not however sold the small, crappy apartment that he had previously lived in. Rather, he continued to rent it as a miniature base of operations away from his grand mansion in the Namikaze estate, maintaining the villager's belief that he still lived in squalor. He had bought new clothes, to reflect his change in lifestyle. He had visited and grown accustomed to the training area 'Earth meets Sky' that his father had mentioned. He had found and descended into 'the Vault', the immense failsafe and safe house for the village's existence. He had returned from said safe house with a cache of scrolls from 'the Vaults' library, with which he could use to begin training himself to be a better shinobi.

He looked over at his scroll case. It was a small wooden chest with a combination of padlock and chakra seal for security, painted black with red metallic trim. It fulfilled a purpose, keeping any scrolls he owned or took from 'the Vault' safe and secure, so any prying eyes (he lived in a ninja village…enough said) could not see what he was or would be doing. He first removed the chakra seal with a burst of chakra (obviously!) and then unlocked the small padlock with a key he kept hung on a cord around his neck. Giving in to paranoia, Naruto looked from side to side before propping the chest beside him on his bed. With a deep breath he took in the chests old smell, and reverently opened it to remove the contents within.

Before him were a rather interesting collection of scrolls. Some he had owned for some time, having collected them through the years during his time at the Academy to aid his. They detailed basic training like how to throw a shurikan or perform hand seals, and he had bought them out of necessity since most of his sensei at the Academy had disliked him for obvious reasons. Beside these older scrolls there were some newer additions, namely the scrolls left for him by his father concerning his inheritance and legacy. Naruto was currently keeping them in the 'training chest' because he was yet to think of a suitable way of keeping these more important documents hidden even further away from prying eyes.

Then there was the scroll he had used to copy down the information from the Forbidden scroll onto those few nights ago. He was yet to look at that one, and was still undecided as to the when he would. With this special scroll were several hidden gems he had discovered upon moving into his mothers home. Scrolls of equal importance to his fathers scrolls, those left behind by the Uzumaki clan during their stay in the house. One was VERY old and detailed the jutsu held in great respect by the Uzumaki clan, relics of their former life in the now assimilated Uzumaki no Kuni.

The second was slightly newer, and reading the signature in the initial corner of the paper had caused a small sob to issue from Naruto. The initial sentence read 'Naruto's jutsu by Uzumaki Kushina'; it was written by his mother for him. Clearly she had penned it not very long after he had been born; she had intended to use it when training him as he grew up. It was the same with all shinobi clans, the parents teaching their children the jutsu passed down to them by their parents continuing down the generations. It was a hallowed and venerated tradition amongst shinobi, and his mother had meant to honour it. Obviously her death had halted that dream, another reason added to Naruto's mental list titled 'Why I hate the bastard Kitsune'.

The remaining Uzumaki clan scrolls were also there. One contained the training steps for manipulating the nature of a shinobi's chakra. The particular element that it focused on was water, which was the obvious outcome since his mothers clan grew up in an island nation surrounded by the stuff. Then there was a scroll on advanced traps and their uses in an ambush or protracted battle situation, followed by a scroll containing the details behind an old kenjutsu form that used two blades at once.

Then there were the scrolls he had taken from 'The Vault' the previous day, the ones he had decided would give him the most benefit at the time. The first group of scrolls that he had taken were all about 'honing one's chakra control', detailing various training exercises and hints that would make performing jutsu and progressing as a shinobi easier. Next was a scroll entitled 'Genjutsu for Beginners' which included and expanded upon the basic knowledge taught at the Academy, with additional hints and tips on refining the creation and detection of basic illusions. Finishing the small pile was a larger scroll on the taijutsu style 'Wing Chun', which focused on both the styles principles and the training that one must undergo to learn and master it. There were some very informative diagrams showing kata's for both beginners and advanced students to practice.

All of these scrolls had been chosen by Naruto to improve on the inadequacies that he felt he had as a ninja. His taijutsu was basic to say the least, his perception and understanding of genjutsu was worse, and his overall chakra control was worse still. The only reason he hadn't noticed these faults before was primarily due to his abnormally high level of stamina; vast amount of chakra and general pig headed stubborn nature. He didn't know how to control his chakra properly, and thus wasted a high degree of it when performing jutsu. Even though he often got an end result, that was again an outcome brought about by stubbornness.

An example of this would be a comparison of his quick mastery of the Kage Bunshin, compared to his difficulty with the regular lower rank Bunshin tested during Academy exams. To create a Bunshin the user needed to select a certain level of chakra, stick to it and hone it to create feasible clones that looked identical to the user. This needed a passable level of chakra control. Kage Bunshin however simply took a person's chakra and split it evenly to create the desired amount of replicas, requiring more chakra but less skill controlling it.

This would not do, so it was chakra control first. He looked at the orange sealed scroll, and on a whim decided to give it another read. He did so, being careful not to damage it as usual. Reading down, small two sentences at the end caught his attention. He read it aloud once, then twice to be sure, "Hmmm _'also, you may want to visit a shop owned by a man named Ryu. Its hidden away in the market district, past the store that sells pickled food then left down the alleyway, you cant miss it'_, who's Ryu? Well, it's as good a point to start as any" he decided, and set out to find this man, Ryu.

**Later**

Following the scrolls small directions, Naruto first ran to the market district being careful to avoid anyone. On the way, he was jogging down a small street when he saw a rapidly approaching blur of green on a collision course with him. As the blur grew rapidly closer, he soon discovered that it was a young boy about a year older than he was. He was wearing a green spandex full body suit, with orange bands covering the lower legs. His hands were wrapped in bandages, and his head was covered by the weirdest hairstyle Naruto had seen to date. It was a large bowl cut that seemed to reflect the early morning sunlight like a mirror. He was also wearing a blindfold, which would explain why he could not see that he was on a collision course with Naruto. Unable to move in time (he was still blinded/mesmerized by the boy's unique appearance) Naruto could only wince and shield his face as the speedy boy ploughed straight into him. The pair collided with a thump that seemed to resonate through the quiet morning air, before falling to the floor in an undignified pile.

Naruto was the first to get up, brushing himself off whilst exerting a considerable measure of willpower to stop himself from shouting himself hoarse at the strange boy, but reminded himself that he was wearing a blindfold and is a complete stranger. Settling for a stern countenance and slightly angry voice, "Could you please watch where you are going"?

The bowl cut haired boy leapt to his feet with a surprising spring and pulled off his blindfold, revealing the biggest eyebrows Naruto had ever seen. They were like two big black caterpillars that had become permanently attached to the boy's forehead. Naruto's eyes widened slightly, but he quickly schooled his visage back into its previously neutral yet angry image. He looked to then left, then to the right before looking straight at Naruto; blinking once and then once more as he realized what had happened. "I am sorry for running into you like that…"

"Uzumaki Naruto" Naruto supplied quickly

"Ah…Naruto-kun. If you would be so kind as to allow me to explain myself. I take this route for my morning jog, and it is usually sufficiently early in the morning that I would encounter anyone. Also Gai-sensei, my amazing teacher who is both wise and strong without peer challenged me to run this course blindfolded fifty times, so naturally spurred by the fires of youth I accepted and was in the process of my twenty third lap when I ran into you…" he bowed "…once again, I am very sorry" before striking a thumbs-up pose whilst flashing a blinding smile.

'Ooookay, overall a very unique individual' Naruto thought, "That's okay…sorry I didn't catch your name"

"Ah my name is Lee, Rock Lee. Very pleased to meet you Naruto-kun" he grabbed Naruto's hand and gave it a firm squeeze. Lee was of the frame of mind that if first impressions are considered to be important, then a person should show a moderate level of strength in that greeting so as not to be rude. Naruto felt the slight increase in pressure as he accepted the handshake, and decided to play possum as it were. He took the firm grip with a nonchalant expression, and was careful to not apply any undue force in return.

Lee frowned at this development as several conflicting thoughts ran through his cranium. Was the boy really so weak that he could not give a proper handshake, he had only applied a small amount of extra pressure. But in contradiction to this notion, he had taken the impact without flinching, which Gai-sensei told him was a sign of inner strength. Lee concluded that the boy could have returned the handshake with gusto, but for reasons unknown had decided not to. The martial shinobi shrugged off the small occurrence with a sigh, slightly saddened by the loss of a potential sparring partner, Lee decided to settle for making a friend instead. Lord knows he had precious few of them outside of his own team.

"If I may be so bold as to enquire Naruto-kun, what are you doing out at such an early time in the day. Were you seized by the fires of youth as well," Lee said, striking another of his 'nice-guy' poses.

"Uh yeah, something like that gejimayu…I mean Lee" Naruto corrected himself. This guy was being friendly, so he would respond with the same level of courtesy. "I was trying to find a shop owned by a man named Ryu, do you know where it is…Lee-san"

Lee crossed his arms in a position of deep thought "Hmmm, now that you mention it the name does sound familiar…" he clicked his fingers "…aha, now I remember. Ryu-sama was the man Gai-sensei took me too to get my training weights. He is also the man who orders our custom green training suits. Naruto-kun, please allow me to lead you there as a token of my apologies"

"Lee (Naruto was never one for much heavy use of suffixes) you don't need to keep apologizing. Once is enough…" he smiled "…and I would be honoured for you to guide me. Lead the way" Naruto said, happy at making a new friend. 'Today is turning out to be a very good day' he thought as he followed Lee through the streets of Konoha.

All around them, the village was starting to wake up for a new day of life. Merchants had begun opening their stalls and sorting through their merchandise, windows were being opened to let fresh air into homes. Steadily, as the pair meandered their way across the market streets, people were coming out of their houses. They came to the stall that sold pickled foodstuffs, and turned left down an alleyway just past it.

"It should be just about…here it is Naruto-kun. Ryu-sama should be opening about now" supplied Lee, as they came upon what looked like a small shop hidden away. But Naruto could tell it would definitely be something more.

'_Ryu's Armoury and Ninja Supplier'_ was the name of the shop, emblazoned on a large green dragon that curled itself into the shape of a sign above the door. It looked almost like a small dojo of some sort, with a traditional shoji as its entrance. The only contrast were the windows, large glass windows cut into the wall with a variety of different items on display with a sign saying 'You it break it you buy it. Those unable to pay in currency pay in blood. Have a nice day'. This raised some alarm in Naruto, 'Hope the old guy dad mentioned isn't some kind of nutcase or something, because that's the last thing I need'

Lee noticed his new friends pensive look "Oh, don't take any notice of the sign. It's just to ward off thieves and such, you can never be too careful correct"

Naruto nodded slightly, but his attention was drawn by the sounds of movement behind the screen door. A thumping sound was heard, steadily getting louder as it grew closer. There was a rustling, and the door slid open. A walking stick suddenly thudded onto the pavement, followed by its grizzled holder "What's this, customers at this time in the morning…" came a gruff old voice, much like Sarutobi but with a slight undertone of nails in a blender "…ah Lee I didn't see you there"

Old man Ryu was an old man who looked to Naruto to be the spitting image of old man Sarutobi. That is if Sarutobi wore a black robe with white trim and had a large scar down the left side of his face and over his eye. He wore his grey hair in a long ponytail, was missing his right forearm and had a faded Konoha hitai-ate tied over his left shoulder. Also, his right leg seemed to drag slightly as he walked, indicating an injury or disability. He had Sarutobi's goatee down though. Leaning heavily on his walking stick, Ryu turned his good eye to Naruto, who flinched when he saw that the other one was the grey colour that all blind eyes had in common. The old mans gaze seemed to pierce straight through him like a knife, he could feel a nervous sweat drip down the back of his neck.

"Who's the kid Lee…friend of yours?" he enquired

"Yes, this is Uzumaki Naruto"

Surprise and sadness filled the old mans scarred face, his eyebrows rising momentarily. It was a brief flicker of emotion, and Naruto was just barely able to see it. If anything, the old mans eyes seemed to bore even deeper from that point, causing Naruto to visibly squirm under the hawk-like gaze. "Is he now? Well, lets not stand around all day flapping our gums like a couple of screws, c'mon in shops open" he turned, his gaze finally leaving Naruto as he turned and motioned for the pair to follow him in.

Inside, the shop seemed to be more a waiting room with wooden floors covered by tatami mats. There was some visible merchandise, a rack of shurikan supported by a chest marked 'Chuunin vests – All sizes apart from 8'. There was a tiny desk with a cash register, which reminded you that this was an actual business, beside a set of shelves filled with assorted scrolls and writing utensils.

"How are the weights holding out Lee? I suppose you'll be wanting something heavier soon knowing you…" Ryu turned to Naruto "…and what brings you to my small business. C'mon boy speak up, or has your voice mysteriously vanished" he barked.

Swallowing hard, Naruto started to find himself. 'How can one old man be so intimidating' he thought, "I was recommended here by…a friend. He said you could help me with training"

"You a ninja? Man, they just let anyone pint-size kid graduate these days don't they. In my day there was no prissy little academy to spoon-feed kid's ninja tricks. Only back breaking work, its was constant war then" he lectured, obviously enjoying somewhat the power he held over Naruto 'Kid's shakin like a leaf in a gale, looks like I still got the magic' he thought with a wry grin.

Lee took this moment to pipe up, not liking the uncomfortable silence. "The weights are fine Ryu-sama. Now, if you would both excuse me, I have to get back to my training. Naruto-kun, how many laps was I at when he met?"

'You mean when we collided' the blonde thought wryly, "Twenty three laps Lee"

"Excellent, thank you Naruto-kun. Ryu-sama, it was nice meeting you this morning…" he walked up to Naruto and leaned close to whisper into his ear "…he may seem intimidating, but Ryu-sama is a very kind person. Please do not let his harshness deter you, it is merely his way" before waving at the pair and running off down the alleyway.

They both watched, as the green spandex clad boy became a small dust cloud in the distance. Once again, it was Ryu who started talking "Interesting friend you got their…Uzumaki Naruto"

"Uh, yeah I guess. Just met him if I'm honest"

"Well then let's gets to business. This friend of yours, the one who recommended you to my quiet little establishment. He a young man, just a little taller than me. Kinda goofy sometimes, spiky blonde hair like yours…" Naruto paled "…calls himself Minato" the last bit was added with a grin, Ryu's good eye seeming to light up.

Naruto backed away to the door, trying to get out as quickly as possible. He turned quickly, but was only greeted by a hard green eye staring at him. 'How did he move so fast…how much does he know…what's he gonna do to me' he thought frantically.

"Humph, pretty quick for an old timer aren't I…" Ryu said, pausing to hack up a cough. He saw the shaky look of fear in Naruto's eyes, and a sad thoughtful look passed over the retired shinobi's scarred visage. "Relax kid; for god's sake you're shakin like a leaf. Grow some backbone already, I'm not like those narrow-minded pricks that call themselves 'the citizens of Konoha', so you won't get any cussin from me. You look a lot like him…your dad I mean"

Naruto pushed himself away "How, how do you know?" he asked; now clearly getting scared. If this old man knew, who else did? Sure there was old man Sarutobi, but who else?

All he got in reply was laughter, a harsh grating laughter that was punctuated by the occasional cough. "I think the question is how I could not know. I knew your pap since he was a little baby, watched him grow up and become a fine shinobi. So naturally for me you're the spitting image of Namikaze Minato. That, and I also was one of the few people he turned to when he banged up your mom, so you do the math"

The old man turned so he was gazing out of the shop front window. "And in answer to that little question bobbin about in yer mind, no I never told a soul. Little blonde punk made me swear I wouldn't, not that I would anyway but his trust in me was so…absolute…that he saw it necessary. Lovely sentiment…" he paused, and looked at Naruto over his shoulder "…He told me you might, um, visit someday, but I never knew if he was telling the truth or not"

He turned around, and his scarred face seemed to split into a smile. It was a surprisingly scary smile, mostly due to the way the scar seemed to stretch and contort as the cheeks moved. And as for the pearly whites, well needless to say there were fewer teeth than Naruto had first speculated.

"Now, let's get down to it. You're here for training gear and believe me when I say you came to the right man…" he lifted up his hand and counted off from some invisible list "…one, I have contacts across the continent allowing access to some of the most exotic merchandise around. Two, I don't overprice my goods and am open to haggling. BUT, try to take me for a ride and I will start taking vital organs, guys got to make a livin ya know. And three, I was a ninja. I have been there, done it and got the scars to prove it. That makes me the freakin Buddha when it comes to advice…so, Uzumaki Naruto. What…can I do…for you?"

Naruto blinked, forgetting himself for a moment. 'Why do I always get the nuts' he thought with a groan, before recalling that the weird old man probably wanted a reply. "Uh, that's just it. I haven't started training yet, and I was wondering if you had any suggestions."

The old man scratched his chin, "Hmmm, let me see. There's exercises on chakra control"

"Doing that"

"Taijutsu, one style at least is a start, maybe two"

"That too"

"How about genjutsu. Y'know, detection and so on"

"Uh huh, got that covered"

This made the man pause; he hummed to himself for a minute. Then he clicked his fingers as he got an idea "What about training weights. Or exercises for increasing your chakra reserves, those are good too."

Mentally slapping himself 'Why didn't I think of that' thought Naruto. "Nope, never thought of that. Do you have anything that can help me Ryu-san"

"Y'know, I have just the thing. Follow me, I keep the good stuff in the back. No sense in selling anything decent when half of the time all I'm getting is plucky chuunin and genin who only want 'power'. That's what all this…" he indicated to the stock around them "…is for"

Naruto followed Ryu through a sliding door at the back of the room, and down the corridor and into a large dimly lit room. There were large wooden crates everywhere, some open and some still untouched. It was like one of those strange little antique shops people could only ever find by accident, with a collection of dusty glass display cases filled with miscellaneous trinkets completing the image. A smell caught his sensitive nostrils, a burning smell…burning wood and coal to be more precise.

The source of the smell turned out to a small furnace burning away in a room to the side of the 'museum'. The door was open, allowing the glow of the fire to give some extra light to the store room. "What's the furnace for…" Naruto asked "…seems a little to hot for just central heating"

Ryu turned on the spot, looked to where Naruto was pointing, and sighed before moving across the room to close the door. There was a grinding sound and Naruto realised the door was made from metal, a very heavy and fire-resistant metal. "That's my forge room. It's a bit of a hobby of mine, started it when I was a kid. My granpappy used to be a blacksmith, one of the best in Hi no Kuni. It's a skill that's been passed down through the generations, forging weapons both normal an experimental. Certainly helps me with ma stock, save a bundle makin kunai instead a orderin it…used to make kunai for your dad. Special kunai those were, the kind that earn a guy nicknames."

Naruto continued to follow Ryu along the haphazard path through the mess, he allowed himself enough time to peruse each case and open box he went by. One caught his eye, holding an old looking green scroll with an archaic blue seal. Naruto enquired as to what it contained, causing Ryu to raise his head from amidst a pile of his stock.

"Oh, that. That's been here for years, bought it from some merchant from Mizugakure, said he found it floating inside a chest amidst the wreckage ship that was coming from the East Lands. I've never looked at it, never had the balls to tell you the truth. There's something about that scroll, its ancient. Predates this village, or any other for that matter. Feels dark somehow, its one of those things that we just shouldn't disturb you know…" he returned to his boxes, and rummaged around some more with his good arm and walking stick "…aha, found it! Here we are, these should do"

Naruto whistled at the sight before his eyes. He watched as the old man took out five items one by one and reverently placed them on a groundsheet he had pulled from a nearby box. He pulled out a pair of bracers, a pair of ankle weights and a large combat vest. The bracers and the ankle weights were pretty standard being mostly made up of bands of pure metal. The metal was very unusual, dark black with strange markings etched into the surface. The ankle weights consisted of three thick bands of metal held in place by padded black fabric. Each band came apart at a certain point, opening like a pair of handcuffs. Except unlike handcuffs, these came back into place around the calves using some strange clips that when in place, disappeared amidst the metal. The bracers were a little more common look, being made of two thin sheets of metal forged to clip into place on an individuals forearm.

The vest was something else altogether. It looked like a regular chuunin vest in appearance, except it didn't have the collar or the various pouches on the front. What it did have though were heavy duty straps going vertically up either side of the zip. They started from within the vest at the bottom and went up into the vest again at the shoulders. The cloth used to make the vest and its straps was unlike anything Naruto had ever seen before. And behind the straps were several long bands woven into the vest, bands of the same dark metal that was used in the ankle weights and bracers. They started on one side of the vest, and weaved their way through the fabric to the other side. Each band of metal, like those in the bracers and ankle weights, had a complex pattern of grooves scored into the surface, running around a single spiral rune indented into the centre of each band. On closer inspection Naruto noticed that the grooves were dark blue in colour, almost black even. They were certainly dark enough that they blended in with the rest of the metal.

"These are some very special training weights. The metal they are made from is derived from a rare mineral found in the Tatehei mountain region that rings Tsuchi no Kuni entire western border. It is unique in it can naturally absorb enormous quantities of chakra, ki or reiatsu energy. This makes the process of mining the mineral ore insanely difficult, because the miners die from chakra exhaustion. This in turn is due mostly to their obvious lack of training concerning chakra, which a shinobi has as their bread and butter, so they have to be trained first in order to be allowed down into the mine shafts which take time. But that's the boring history of the metal, your more interested in what it can do am I right."

Ryu took a breath before continuing his speech "When treated and smelted correctly, the metal created from this rare ore is capable of insane things. Depending on the nature of the chakra that it fed into it, this metal could cut a mountain in half or burn with the intensity of the sun. In the case of these training weights, the effect is the ability to create localised gravity fields around an individual's body. Pretty cool huh?" he asked, waiting for a response from Naruto.

"How do you alter the effect of the metal. If there are so many, how is it possible to focus the power on a specific thing, sounds impossible to me" he finally asked, a little bemused by the seemingly amazing concepts he was being told. He had heard of weapons producing amazing effects, but he never thought that a naturally occurring mineral would be the cause of everything.

"It's all down to the forging process, which was discovered by the 'Densetsu no Fojishishou' Hogusha Kenkashu. He was a shinobi who lived hundreds of years ago, and it was he who discovered the means of channelling the powers held within the ore. He discovered that if you perform hand signs whilst pouring chakra into the ore's raw liquid form, you could guide the effect it would have when cast to some extent. This became even more focused if when casting the metal into the desired shape, the smith marked the metal with written runes and markings as if it were a scroll instead of a weapon. The overall process was hit and miss at first, but after years of tireless work he managed to create a manuscript detailing the forging process and the correct series of seals needed to channel the various effects. The man was a revolutionary…and a bit of a hero to me in my youth, long past as that is. That answer your question Uzumaki?" Ryu explained, resting on his staff for brief periods. He ended his speech with another hard piercing stare, as if he were daring Naruto to question what he had just said.

"It's Naruto, and please…continue with what you were saying. I'm all ears, honest" the boy replied hastily, trying his best not to look the freaky old geezer directly in his penetrating eyes.

Ryu chuckled, and paused to remember where he was. When he did recall his place in his explanation, he clicked his bony fingers and continued. "When chakra is passed through these particular weights, even if it's a small amount, a localised bubble will form around the wearer's body. Whilst this bubble is in effect, the density of the metal immediately increases by up to one hundred and fifty percent, and the gravitational pull that is exerted on them increases all well. These weights help build the wearers strength, stamina, control of chakra **AND** their chakra reserves, because once a connection is established with a source of chakra the metal keeps steadily absorbing chakra from that source. There is the risk that the user could die from chakra control. And the pressure exerted on their body could reduce their limbs to the consistency of paste, but let's not dwell on that…" the last sentence was said behind a hand between coughs at a very low tone "…C'mon try 'em on already"

Naruto picked up the one of the bracers and clipped it onto his left forearm. Then he did it with the other, and tested the feel of the supposed 'miracle' weights. He frowned, was this it? They felt slightly cumbersome yes, a little heavy but nothing that bad. Acting on some unconscious instruction, Naruto decided to pump some chakra into them to see what happened. He formed the generic hand sign for channelling chakra, and began to concentrate his chakra into flowing through his arms more so than his legs. The grooves in the metal lit up and began to pulse steadily, a beautiful blue colour that lit up the dark around his body.

But Naruto had little time to appreciate the artistic colour of the patterns in the metal, as without any due warning the weights became incredibly heavy and his arms pulled downwards with a vengeance. It was like there was some strange force was pulling his arms down into the earth. Unable to take the strain, Naruto fell hard onto the ground forearms first. He began to feel very weak, like his life force itself was bleeding away into the ground. He could hear Ryu's voice; it sounded distant like he was calling from far away.

"Quickly boy, you're putting it too much chakra! Release it or you shall die!"

With great difficulty, Naruto dragged his hands together as they pressed hard against the cold floor. He weakly formed the universal release seal used by shinobi, and mumbled "Kai". There was a rush of feeling as his chakra surged back into his body, the flow into the bracers stopped. Naruto lay there on the floor for a few minutes breathing heavily, unable to move a muscle. He had never felt so weak, he had just barely managed to perform the release. With great time and effort he steadily pushed himself to his feet. He started with his arms, then he moved his knees into a kneeling position, and then with a heave he was onto his feet. The last movement sent his head swimming and he started to feel himself falling forward from a lack of equilibrium, but was caught by a pair of gnarled strong hands.

"Easy there son, its just a near fatal case of chakra exhaustion, you'll be fine…" he felt himself be guided back onto a chair "…I'm just gonna sit you down for a sec till you feel you are strong enough to move properly. It shouldn't take long, about a half an hour, but I suggest you go to sleep early tonight"

Naruto nodded, and sat in silence for a while, breathing in and out steadily. Ryu left and re-entered holding a glass filled with a brackish green liquid. He offered it to Naruto, who gulped it down all too readily. The liquid burned his throat, and he began to feel nauseous. His stomach cramped hard, and then his vision grew hazy. These feelings faded after what seemed a long time, and Naruto felt slightly more energised than he had beforehand. He heard Ryu dragging another small chair, and with a hiss of breath the old man sat down.

"God I hate getting old. Y'like that stuff, made it myself. It's a special elixir brewed for the purposes of chakra rejuvenation, cant quite recall the name though. One of the many skills I gained during my time as a shinobi, got a license for brewing an everythin. These days its all legislation and red tape, not like the old times when all a man needed was his abilities to thrive and a kunai for when he was questioned."

"Who are you Ryu-san…really?" Naruto asked, his voice steadily returning.

"Who me? Well since you asked…" he shrugged his shoulders "…you're sharp I can tell, so you must have gathered from this old mans ramblings that I was a shinobi, during my youth. Been retired for fifteen years now, and that's a long time to dwell. I was one of the first shinobi to be cranked out of this village since it's founding, graduated alongside that stiff Sarutobi…" his eyes grew misty as he began to recall his past "…we were what many have come to call rivals. Every single generations has them, it's a tradition of sorts. His sensei were the two Naegi brothers, the Shodaime and Nidaime to you, so no wonder he succeeded them as Hokage."

Naruto smiled when he heard the names, he recalled his father saying the same. "Who was your sensei Ryu-san? If you don't mind my asking. Is he alive? Is he dead?"

"My sensei, well lets just say he was a harsh taskmaster as well as a nice guy at the same time. Confused? Me too…" Ryu said, confusion clearly evident on his face as he struggled to form his sentence. Then, all of a sudden he began to titter quietly. After a couple of seconds, the wizened, scarred face of Fubatsu Ryu was creased as he barked with laughter. Slapping his thigh with his good arm, Ryu quietened down a little and began to speak through urgent breaths. "Why, one time he tied a rock to my feet and told me 'Ryu, if you cant hold your breath for a least fifteen minutes then you wont be able to master the next jutsu I plan to teach you. Can't let the ape-boy get the better of you huh'."

The laughter died completely as he continued. "Sadistic shit was one of the first to die during the First Secret War, but I an Danzo mourned him all the same. Oh, before you ask, Danzo was one of my team mates. I think he's doing something with the ANBU last I heard, doesn't see daylight much if you get me. The others was…you know I cant remember…stupid senility. When I was young I could hit a man at any part of his body with a kunai from 700 feet away, and now I have reading glasses, indigestion and a short-term memory. But enough with the rambling, that's me in a nutshell…more or less. Any more questions whilst you're immobile?"

Naruto twitched his limbs to see if they would respond. He felt a familiar aching, and decided to continue. "Yeah, I got a question. How come I'm not dead? Considering my dad was Hokage and all, why hasn't anyone discovered my real heritage. He must have had lots of enemies, so why haven't they tried to assassinate me yet?"

Ryu scratched his goatee as he pondered over the question. "Hmmm, that's a good one. There weren't that many people who knew ya even existed when you were born. There was Sarutobi, those students a Minato's, some a Kushina's family, Minato's sensei Jiraiya, an Tsunade. She was the medical shinobi who delivered ya. Now as to the why…hm lesse. When your ma found out she was pregnant, she an your dad started forming plans on keeping ya secret for a long as possible. She filled in the paperwork for a year's unpaid leave from active duty, and retired away in that big house a hers when the bump started showin. That helped a bunch..."

He continued "…When Minato presented his plan to the elders, they were desperate. We all happened to be in the middle of a demon attack, so when he told them you were an orphan discovered near the border with Kusa no Kuni, they just accepted it straight away. Your mother had already recovered a little from your birth and was already off fightin the kitsune, so they couldn't question her. Her family swore to keep things quiet too. Beautiful woman your mother, hair like fire and a temper that could melt steel. There were and never have been any legal documents or pieces of information linking you to Minato or the Namikaze clan, the kid made sure that you would be safe. As far as the world is concerned, you are an orphan who was given the name Uzumaki by the Yondaime Hokage, in honour of your part in saving the village. Nobody really knew about ya mothers clan, except for a couple a people the name Uzumaki doesn't ring any bells..."

He paused to allow the information to sink in. "..And if anyone put two and two together and came to the conclusion you are his son, they would most likely be so disbelieving in their findings that they would put it off as coincidence. The evidence is circumstantial, not concrete in any real way. Besides, even if they still believed it, they wouldn't be able to do a thing about it because monkey-ass-Sarutobi has you covered. So rest assured, you can sleep safely."

"Oh, thanks" Naruto said, satisfied that his questions had been asked. He had others, but they were more childish in nature like 'How did you lose your arm' or 'What's with the scar and one eye' and he didn't want to embarrass himself further. Stretching slightly, he tested his body to see if it was still paralysed by the sudden fatigue he had endured. When he was satisfied, he pushed himself off the chair and took some steps to be sure.

"Well, looks like your bodies better, you must be a fast healer or just a good actor. Told you that elixir was good stuff huh…" Ryu got up as well, shifting his weight back onto his good leg "…now back to business. You were testing out those bracers, and they come with the ankle weights and the vest as a set. The pressure you feel with all of them on will at first be eons ahead of what you felt earlier. Luckily the human body can adapt to most things pretty easily so you should be fine after wearing them all 'active' for a month or so. Do you still want them?"

"Yes, I'll take them, as well as the scroll over there" Naruto pointed to the scroll in the glass cabinet he had enquired about before.

Ryu's eyebrow raised 'Of all the items around him he asks for that scroll…interesting' he thought. "Okay then, seeing as I'm feeling generous, you can have the scroll for free. The set of weights however are 350, 000 ryu, and that includes a repair kit for the padding and straps." He held out his hand expectantly, clearly enjoying the surprise and outrage on the boys face.

Naruto cursed under his breath, muttering about 'Stingy old geezers who are going to hell piece by piece' and paid in full. He could easily afford it after receiving his family wealth, but the years of surviving off a meagre allowance that barely covered anything had taught him to make every cent count, and paying in large amounts was still new to him so it was annoying every time.

He left the store happy none the less. Now he had everything he needed, and after putting it off for so long could begin his training for succeeding his father in the Hokage name. It was now close to mid-morning, and Naruto pondered what to do for the rest of the day. He couldn't do anything physical or involving chakra until at least tomorrow, so what could be done. He remembered his meeting with Lee, the strange boy who had been running blindfolded through the village. With that thought, Naruto settled for charting out a course that he could take for a run every morning, before heading home to read the scrolls he had acquired. If he walked at a steady pace he should be okay.

**Later**

Naruto pushed his legs at a reasonable pace, trying to conserve his dwindling supply of energy. He had walked a course that took him around the village in a snaking route before going up to the top of the Hokage memorial and down again. He was now going through some woods close to what he believed to be training grounds 13-18 in the west of the village. His limbs and chest were making their unhappiness known to him, burning with a steady pulsing sensation. In a moment of in hindsight was sheer blinding stupidity, he had put on all of the weights he had just purchased and activated them. He was careful to leek the smallest amount of chakra he could into the weights, but that didn't effect a thing. Ryu had been right when he had told him the weights were very sensitive when it came to chakra. Even the small amount he was supplying made them in his view at least ten percent heavier, which on his already tired limbs was like rubbing salt into a paper cut.

As he cursed his own stupidity several times over, Naruto heard a thumping in the distance. As he headed closer towards the noise, it slowly changed from a dull thumping to a clear thwacking noise heard when metal hits wood, rising in tempo as well as volume. Naruto approached the noise, curios as to what could be creating it. He went through some trees into a clearing, and was clearly surprised by what he saw. It was Lee, beating at a training post with reckless abandon, kicking what could only be described as ten bells of shit out of the helpless stump of wood. With each kick he counted forwards "588, 589, 560, 561, 562…" the numbers climbed unceasingly.

Lee then paused in mid-kick, lowered his leg and pivoted in Naruto's direction. "You know it is rude to stare at…ah, it is you Naruto-kun. Sorry, I thought you were a stranger for a moment". He disappeared and then reappeared in front of Naruto, which startled Naruto so much he fell backwards.

"That's the second time today that I'm flat on my ass because of you Lee…" Naruto mock-scolded, accepting Lee's outstretched hand when it was offered "…so did you finish your laps with the blindfold on?"

Lee smiled, and replied with gusto "I completed the original fifty laps, and continued on to do another twenty seven so spurred on was I by our meeting. I felt driven to push my body when I met you Naruto-kun, and was in the process of 700 kicks against the training post when you arrived. Today seems to be a most fortuitous one does it not?"

"Uh, yeah, that's pretty close to what I was thinking"

"If I might say so Naruto-kun, you seem to be more worse for wear than when I saw you last. Your limbs are dragging more which indicates weakness of muscles due to fatigue. And your face is paler than it was this morning. Did something happen at Ryu-san's?"

Naruto hung his head. 'Man this guy is sharp' he thought to himself, clearly in awe and the bandaged boy's keen eye for physical detail. Then, slowly as Lee watched in curiosity, Naruto unzipped his sweater and removed it. The air felt cool against his skin, apparently he was in need of a bit of a break. With the layer of clothing removed, Lee could now clearly see the weighted vest and bracers fixed firmly to Naruto's body.

Lee grinned at the sight of the weights. "Ah, you have procured training weights, excellent. I can tell they are of high quality, maybe adding an additional two hundred or so pounds to restrain movement and build strength. But still, your current condition suggests something more to these weights, am I correct in my assumption?"

Naruto closed his eyes and allowed his chakra to reassert its natural course through his body. He felt the additional weight lift from his limbs like they were nothing but clouds around his body, he could move a little easier now. "These weights are made of a special metal that absorbs chakra from the body to increase their density and gravitational pull. Basically, the more chakra I supply them with, the harder and heavier they become. Got some for my legs as well…" Naruto said, pulling up his trousers to show the ankle weights clasped around…well, his ankles.

"Oh, a full set. To begin at such a point is most brave of you Naruto-kun. Gai-sensei has forbid me from using any other weights than those he supplies me with, so I only have my own ankle weights to hold me back…" Lee replied, looking at Naruto's weights with awe. After some fumbling around with the loud orange sock-sleeve he was wearing on his leg, he pulled out his own set of training weights. They were a hardy khaki cloth with four pouches designed to hold metal bars. They clanked a little as they moved 'Must be pretty heavy' Naruto thought, amazed that the kid could carry the weight.

"Naruto-kun, you said that the weights use chakra to increase their density…how is that possible?"

"It's just the ore that's used to make the metal, its special apparently…" Naruto replied, answering Lee's question to the best of his ability. From there the pair of them sat and talked, throwing questions back and forth to learn more about one another. Initially it was all based around training. Lee even went so far as to give Naruto tips on different exercises to help make the body more limber. Soon the conversation moved on to other matters, like Naruto graduating from the Academy, Lee's team mates and so on. And as the time went by, the boys discovered that they had much in common.

They both were orphans, growing up with no parental figures bar the old Hokage. They both were considered to be failures by others, and because of this were both determined to prove themselves. Lee told Naruto of his condition, that his body was unable to produce more than the minimum amount of chakra necessary to live. It was something to do with obstructions at several key meeting points throughout his chakra pathways, which limited the speed of the chakra's flow to the barest trickle.

"So you cant do ninjutsu or genjutsu…" Lee nodded "…and you still want to be a ninja…" another nod "…using only taijutsu."

"Yes, that is my dream. To become a great shinobi, even though I cannot do ninjutsu or genjutsu. That is my nindo, my ninja way. I shall persevere through all obstacles to achieve that dream…" Lee looked at Naruto "…what is your dream Naruto-kun?"

Naruto looked into the sky, watching the clouds drift by on the wind. "My dream. I have thought long and hard about it recently, and its pretty weird the conclusions I came to. The reasons behind it seem both childish and valid at the same time. My dream is to become Hokage, so that everyone who has ever looked down on me will instead look up to me. That's what it was, but recently it has grown beyond that. I want to earn the trust of the village, so that I might protect it from harm…" he paused "…when I look up at the Hokage memorial, I remember that they were all great men who cared deeply for this place. They all were willing to give their lives in its defence, three of them did just that. With each passing day I have come to realise just what sort of a path I have set myself, the enormity of it all. But if anything, my resolve has done nothing but deepen. Like you Lee, I will stick the course of my nindo and follow it no matter what the outcome."

Lee stood up suddenly, and stared down at Naruto his eyes burning with a fiery resolve. "Naruto-kun. We are both alike you and I, we both have dreams most would believe impossible. If we were to be classified, we would both be hard workers, shinobi who must train under the harshest of conditions to achieve the results others may achieve with ease. Therefore, as one hard worker to another I believe that we must stand together against the world. As friends we shall work together to make our dreams a reality. You mentioned that you were starting your training as a genin, I have been a genin for almost a year now. If you will let me, I would like to be your training partner in taijutsu. We shall hone our skills together upon the training post of life". The speech ended with his 'nice guy', this time with a Lee also standing on a rock with waves crashing in the background, a sunrise in the background and flocks of birds flying across the 'horizon'.

Although slightly put off by the final display, Naruto was overall emboldened by his new friend's words. He clasped Lee by the arm and nodded in affirmation. Yes, today was indeed a very good day.

**Later that day**

Naruto stood before his bed, arms stretched out wide. Then, without any ceremony whatsoever he just fell forwards onto the beds soft embrace. This bed was not second hand, it had no springs that stuck into your back when you slept. This was a good bed, a comfy bed. Naruto liked this bed.

After finishing with Lee, Naruto had finished plotting his 'morning lap' and headed straight home. After that it was a simple matter of disengaging and pulling off his new weights, thanking god he could use his limbs, gathering his scrolls onto his bed, and collapsing. Now, as he wrapped himself in his bedcovers Naruto picked a scroll at random and unrolled it and started to read.

'**Mastering Genjutsu'**

_Genjutsu or Illusion techniques are jutsu that use the chakra in the victim's nervous system to create illusions, so in a way they can be considered to be an advanced form of intellectual ninjutsu. It is one of the most difficult arts too truly master, as the illusions that are created rely on the user creativity and intelligence to be successful. Attention to detail is the key to creating and countering genjutsu._

_The most commonly seen genjutsu is the simple creation of phantasms – causing the targeted person(s) to hear, see, smell, taste and/or feel sensations that are not actually there in order to manipulate them. In other words, genjutsu affects one or more of the five senses, though other applications of genjutsu exist. An example of the more advanced levels of genjutsu are those that rely on the victim's perception of reality in order to work. The true masters of illusion can use this to create completely separate worlds to ensnare their prey, worlds that have their every attribute from appearance to the air that is breathed at their control. They can also use consecutive illusions layered on top of one another, so that if one of the first illusions is detected and countered, their target will still be at their mercy. Those under the influence of genjutsu either freeze in place or lose consciousness, depending on how capable they are in recognising and defending against it._

_In order to detect a genjutsu if you believe you are under its effects, you must look for something within the illusion that can be perceived to be out of the ordinary. There are several ways to counter genjutsu. Because it uses the victim's own chakra against them, the target can cancel the genjutsu by disrupting their own chakra flow. This is called Genjutsu Kai. Alternatively, should they fail to cancel the genjutsu, intense pain (though not that caused by the genjutsu) can snap them out of it. Finally, someone else can disrupt their chakra flow for them through physical contact. The level of a genjutsu determines the difficulty in breaking it._

_An example of a simple genjutsu would be Magen: Narakumi no Jutsu. This is a supplementary D rank level genjutsu with a range of zero to five metres. This jutsu causes the target to see a horrifying vision. First, an imaginary circle of leaves will spin around and envelop the target, falling away shortly after. After a short period, the illusion will begin. This is to make the illusion more convincing, since the user will likely have moved before the illusion sets in._

He finished the scroll quickly, a sign of his vastly improved reading speed and memory. There were other examples further on, concerning how illusions for specific senses can be created. Naruto rolled up the scroll and picked up another. He looked at the pile, and wondered if there was a way to make the process even faster so that he might get in more rest afterwards and recover quicker. In a moment of inspiration, he recalled the words he had read from the Forbidden Scroll concerning the Kage Bunhsin no Jutsu.

"Kage Bunshin no jutsu, a ninjutsu that creates solid clones of the user by evenly splitting the user's chakra. Unlike clones, these are not illusions, but perfect copies of the user that are capable of performing jutsu separately from the original that will disappear when hit once…" Naruto said as he read aloud the synopsis of the jutsu that he had chosen to learn "…Also, the Kage Bunshin has a lesser known side effect to its use. When a clone is dispersed, all of the experience it has gained returns to the user because the clone is a physical copy. This makes the Kage Bunshin very good for reconnaissance, as they can scout ahead of their creator and anything they learn immediately returns to them."

'I wonder what would happen if some clones read alongside me. I only have enough chakra for three at most. So I'll have to make it count' he thought, and with a quick hand seal and poof of smoke, he had three copies sitting in the room with him. "Okay guys…" he said to them "…I need you to read these scrolls as fast as possible. I have a hunch, and if it's correct it means that we can become stronger at an astronomical rate."

"Okay…Yeah…Sure thing" came their replies, and each none picked up a scroll each and began to read.

Naruto chose the scroll he had taken on the taijutsu style called Wing Chun. He needed to begin building his knowledge of hand-to-hand combat from beyond the basics. This style was briefly described in what he had read as one of the most practical of styles emphasising practicality, efficiency and economy of movement. Naruto had thought that a style such as this would be a great as a base to start from, and once he had mastered this he could learn more styles and integrate each unique philosophy into his form.

'**Taijutsu Styles - Wing Chun'**

_Wing Chun (alternatively romanced as "Ving Tsun") (literally "spring chant" and alternatively as 'forever spring', or substituted with the character for 'eternal springtime') is a martial art that emphasises short-range combat. Traditionally past down from master to student orally rather than through documentation, scrolls such as these on this style are notoriously hard to come by._

_Forms are a meditative, solitary exercise, which develop self-awareness, balance, relaxation and sensitivity. Forms also train the practitioner in the fundamental movement and the correct force generation of Wing Chun. San Sik (translated as Separate Forms) are compact in structure. They can be loosely grouped into three broad categories: 1) focus on building body structure through basic punching, standing, turning, and stepping drills; 2) fundamental arm cycles and changes, firmly ingraining the cardinal tools for interception and adaptation; and 3) sensitivity training and combination techniques._

_It is from the forms and san sik that all Wing Chun techniques are derived. Depending on lineage, the focus, content and intent of each form can have distinct differences, which can therefore have far reaching implications. This also means that there are a few different ideas concerning what constitutes progression in the curriculum from form to form, so only a general description of overlap between different schools of thought is possible here. The most commonly seen Wing Chun generally comprises six forms: three empty hand forms, two weapons forms and one "wooden dummy" form._

_The three forms of the empty hand are as follows. The first form is Siu Nim Tao ('little idea' or 'little imagination') the foundation or 'seed' of the art from which all-succeeding forms and techniques depend. Fundamental rules of balance and body structure are developed here and alternately elbow force. The second form Chum Kiu ('seeking the bridge' or alternately 'sinking bridge') focuses on co-ordinated movement of body mass and entry techniques to 'bridge the gap' between practitioner and opponent and move on to disrupt their structure and balance. Close-range attacks using the elbows and knees are also developed here. It also teaches methods of recovering position and centreline when in a compromised position where Siu Nim Tao structure has been lost. For some branches bodyweight in striking is a central theme, whether it be from pivoting (rotational) or stepping (translational). The third form Biu Jee ('darting fingers') is comprised of extreme short-range and extreme long-range techniques, low kicks and sweeps, and "emergency techniques" to counter-attack when structure and centreline have been seriously compromised, such as when the practitioner is seriously injured. As well as pivoting and stepping developed in Chum Kiu, a third degree of freedom involving more upper body and stretching is developed for more power. A common wing chun saying is 'Biu Jee doesn't go out the door' Some interpret this to mean the form should be kept secret, others interpret it as meaning it should never be used if you can help it._

_The Muk Yan Jong (Wooden Dummy) form is performed against a 'wooden dummy', (a variant version of the standard bare training post commonly used in taijutsu training) a thick wooden post with three arms and a leg mounted on a slightly springy frame representing a stationary human opponent. Although representative of a human opponent, the dummy is not a physical representation of a human, but an energetic one. Wooden dummy practice aims to refine a practitioner's understanding of angles, positions, and footwork and to develop full body power. It is here that the open hand forms are pieced together and understood as a whole._

_Once correct force generation in the open-handed forms is achieved, the student is ready to progress to weapons. With the open hand forms delivering force to the end of the fingertips, the idea is to be able to extend that force further to the end of a weapon as an extension of the body, using the same principles. These chosen weapons of the style are butterfly knives, a pair of large knives that are slightly smaller than the common short sword or tanto. The long pole, a tapered wooden pole ranging anywhere from 8 to 13 feet in length. As well as these throwing weapons such as shurikan and senbon can be incorporated in the style to compensate for a slight lack in long-range physical strikes._

_Then there is Chi Sao or 'sticking hands', which emphasises the development of automatic reflexes upon contact and the idea of "sticking" to the opponent. This training is done to train the user to sense changes in body mechanics, pressure, momentum and "feel". This increased sensitivity gained from this training ideal helps a practitioner attack and counter an opponent's movements precisely, quickly and with the appropriate technique._

_Focusing on the three principles of practicality, efficiency and economy of movement, these core philosophies of the style are inherent in allowing practitioners to advance themselves in taijutsu. They are encouraged often to sense the energy behind their movements. Most strikes are intentionally fatal and target vulnerable areas of the body such as the throat, groin, eyes and stomach. Also, it feeds off the fact that the closest distance between two points is a straight line. Its primary targets all lie on the centreline of one's opponent. One's centreline must always be pointing at one's opponent. Another key part of efficient attacks is using the least amount of required force in any fighting situation. Small movements, properly timed and correctly positioned, can and should be used to defeat large movements. This is achieved through balance, body structure and relaxation._

_Wing Chun prefers deflection and counterattack to hard blocking to conserve movements. Rather than blocking and attacking on two separate beats, a Wing Chun practitioner will either block or punch on the same beat, or block with a punch, known as the Intercepting Fist (Cutting Arm). The punch acts as a block as a consequence of the structure and the position of the arm travelling along its triangular "power-line" pathway to the opponents "Core". This means that the opponent's attack is automatically deflected by the arm-structure of the Wing Chun practitioner as the counter-punch is delivered._

_The "structure" in the arm, which permits this deflection to occur, is controlled through the correct focus of energy from the "elbow" to the "core". If the direction of the counter-attack is not correctly aligned the Wing Chun practitioner will lose the "forwarding" power, which may result in the deflection failing and allowing the attacking punch to make its target. In addition to efficiency being understood as the "shortest distance to the opponents core" (which relates specifically to the speed of attack/counter-attack), it is also important to understand the importance of energy efficiency within Wing Chun. A weaker person using Wing Chun is said to be able to defeat a stronger person because they are able to use their muscles effectively and not exhaust themselves through tense motions. Given this, it is essential in ensuring only the minimal use of energy is required by the Wing Chun practitioner - any deviation from the "power-line" uses additional muscles in the shoulders which causes fatigue very quickly. This deviation removes the Wing Chun practitioner's advantage since their "structure" will no longer carry the full force of their body weight behind the punch. So the opponent with the stronger arms and shoulders will not determine the conclusion of the fight._

_Most Wing Chun attacks take the straightest possible path to the target (usually a straight line). They also tend to attack the opponent's centreline, an imaginary vertical line bisecting the opponent's vitals (throat, heart, stomach, and groin). The Wing Chun punch, for example, is delivered centrally from the practitioner's chest rather than diagonally from the shoulders in the first two forms. This helps teach the centreline concept. In the later forms, the punch is delivered diagonally from the shoulder to the centreline. This is because the distance is shorter than bringing the hand from the shoulder, to the centre of the chest, and then down the centreline at the opponent._

This was one of the longer of the scrolls, going on for much longer than the others detailing the aesthetics of the style, its characteristics of balance, structure and style, how certain basic attacks have been adapted over the years with diagrams to explain these movements. It ended with a series of set kata for a learning practitioner to perform that started out with simple movements like punch, block, counter kick, and punch before moving to more advanced manoeuvres. Each was grouped within bands of difficulty much like the grades used for jutsu. By the time Naruto had absorbed all of the information, his clones were all finished with the other scrolls and were busy killing time by playing a three way game of janken.

One of them turned to Naruto "So, you gonna dispel us and see if your hunch is right?"

Naruto nodded and dispelled the three clones in a poof of smoke. He waited pensively for a minute. Was he wrong, was the effect noted in the Kage Bunshin synopsis incorrect. Then he felt it, a sudden feeling of intense nausea followed by a slight dizziness. He suddenly felt drained, like earlier after the chakra weights if a little less somewhat. It wasn't that bad he thought to himself, but when his head spun a little he found he was unable to support himself properly, and in a show of near comical bad luck tripped on his own left foot and smacked his head on the bedpost before collapsing backwards onto the floor in an undignified heap, unconscious.

**Later**

Naruto woke up with a start. He had fallen unconscious, because of that weird feeling he had felt after dispelling the shadow clones, but why? He tried to remember what had occurred around that time, and suddenly a wealth of information sprang into his head. It was like recalling a memory that you didn't know existed, like it had always been there. With a cry he leapt into the air, pumping his fist for emphasis. 'It works! My idea works! By having shadow clones read alongside me and then dispelling them, all of the information they absorbed goes directly to me. The only downside is the mental fatigue of absorbing so much raw information, but I can work around that. Now all I need to do is create more clones, and we all train in what we have 'learned' using our photographic memories to recall the details. Then I dispel those clones, and all of the training comes full circle and I complete what takes days in half the time. The practical applications of this training are astounding, and it's unique to me. Only I have the chakra capacity to create the clones, and the mind processing power to fully utilise the assimilated information. Brilliant'

He began to recall the scrolls in his mind one by one. There were the scrolls he had found in his mothers home, the home of the Uzumaki clan. were on chakra nature manipulation, advanced traps, a kenjutsu form for using two blades at once, and a list of water jutsu stolen from Mizukagure during a raid many years ago. He had memorised the jutsu he had copied from the Forbidden Scroll, and now only needed to train in them. He now knew about the many finer applications of chakra, form manipulation, and some exercises designed to increase chakra control that he could train in. All of this had been learned in the space of an hour.

"Right, first its sleep. Then tomorrow I wake up refreshed and ready to train for real using all that I have learned" Naruto said out loud. He quickly packed away the scrolls into their chest, locked and sealed it, and then settled down to sleep. Today had been a good day in a string of even greater days. New weights, new training partner and friend. Unique training style. Yes, a very good day indeed.

**Author Notes**

Here we are, another chapter finished. I have to say, this one in particular was one hell of an uphill struggle. It is so difficult when writing to properly describe the images you have in your head, well that's the case for me at least. I spent so much time over Christmas refining my descriptions of the Uzumaki house, Earth meets Sky, 'the Vault' and everything else that it seemed to take forever. But now everything is moving a piece, working my way slowly through everything. I cannot thank everyo9ne enough for remaining patient, I keep setting deadlines for you to look forward to but I never meet them. But your review keep me going, and the amount of times this story has been made somebodies favourite or placed under alert is unreal.

As I write this it is 3:16 am 17/01/08, a long time from my said December update day but bare with me on this. I have some more free time this week and next week, my lectures do not begin until the 28th so I should be okay. As long as I keep working everything should move on schedule. So keep the faith, please be patient, and a new chapter should be on its way soon and I can get back to…wait I'm just repeating myself. So all I'll say is…See Ya.

**Genjutsu Kai** – Illusion technique Release

**Kai** – Release

**Janken** – 'Rock, Paper, Scissors'

**Kenjutsu** – Sword technique

**Magen: Narakumi no Jutsu** - Demonic Illusion: Hell Viewing technique

**Densetsu no Fojishishou** – Legendary Forge Master

**Tsuchi no Kuni** – Land of Earth

**Tatehei** – Shield Wall


	5. Chapter 4: A Team is Born

**Naruto Legacy of the Hokages **

**By Lysander45**

**Disclaimer:** I do not and never will own Naruto, no matter how much I want too. Any and all characters, jutsu and places that I create are mine; if you want to use them please ask permission.

" Speech

' Thoughts

() Jutsu translations/authors voice/usual use for brackets that I cannot be bothered to describe

Italic memories/writing/Spirit voice

Bold emphasis on word

… Pause during speech

**Chapter 4 – A Team is Born**

It had been a turbulent two weeks for one Uzumaki Naruto. Two weeks of preparation for the return to the Academy for his team selection, two weeks of training. After confirming his theory on the Kage Bunshin, with its experience return effect, his training had taken a leap in a thoroughly positive direction. Most days he trained alone either in the solitary peace of 'Earth meets Sky' or in the tranquillity of his dojo, with the days training with Lee making a welcome interruption every third day. He would create at least twenty shadow clones to work at a time, often in separate subjects if he wanted to cover a wider selection of things. Then he would dispel them to receive all of the information gained, wait for the fatigue also gained to clear and then train some more. It had proved to be a very successful process; he was already improving in several key areas.

Naruto sat in his bedroom/study. He could easily use any room in his exceedingly comfortable, well furnished home, but after his years in the small yet snug apartment he used to live in, Naruto had become used to single rooms that fulfil multiple functions. He was reading over some scrolls he had brought from 'The Vault', on maths, biology, ninja poetry, geology and a wealth of other subjects. He wasn't using shadow clones to assimilate the scroll contents en masse; rather he was taking the time to enjoy them slowly piece by piece, syllable by syllable. With the changes occurring inside of his mind, Naruto discovered a new passion deep within himself. Reading. Like long awaited rain washing over scorched soil, Naruto's mind now craved literature of all kinds be it fiction or non-fiction, scientific theories or poetry.

During the evenings after he was training Naruto would sit and read, devouring scroll after scroll with insatiable abandon. Perhaps it was because he had never really read much growing up. Books were expensive to buy (especially for him) and he was never allowed into the village library because the librarian was an old cantankerous woman who would chase after him with a broom. And he had never been an attentive student during his years at the academy, always sleeping through anything he found to be boring (which was most things). Now he was making up for all of the lost time he had wasted on idle things, with gusto.

Pausing from his current scroll, 'Advanced Geometry', and silently pondered over what had happened to him over the past month. Everything in his life had been turned upside down, put in a blender then pan fried into some weird pancake. But what was weird was that it didn't bother him as much as he thought it would. Everything happening at once, like a set of domino's that had been stacked up one after the other in a great line, stretching back to way before he was born. His mind turned to his new life's training regime, and the changes it had brought for him. Change, a word he had come to know very well.

Whilst his clones would train in all of the various exercises he had memorised or read, separate from him high up in the isolated mountain training grounds, Naruto trained both his body and his spiritual abilities. He split his time between training with his weights on and practising the Shinzui Hashi. After the two weeks of rigorous exercise, Naruto found his body rapidly adapting to the changes in weight and pressure created by the localised gravity field generated by the weights. Every morning he would take his morning jogging route through the village, across the mountain path and then through the forests surrounding Konoha in a large circle.

Then he moved into his dojo to put his body through a set menu of training exercises. This wasn't so much of a change when compared to the other exercises, he had been doing similar regimes ever since he first entered the Academy. But now things were different, and Naruto decided to turbo charge his training menu. First were 500 push-ups with a sack of rocks balanced on his back. Next were 500 sit-ups with his feet binding him vertically up a post (we all remember that scene from Rocky 4 when he was training to fight that Russian guy. At least I do - author), and as with the push ups he also had a sack of rocks tied to his back.

This weight, combined with the effect of the weighted vest, bracers and ankle weights made for a very effective exercise resistance. Then it was 500 backstretches, and on to weight training exercises with the dumbbells. Then it was a simple taijutsu kata to loosen up his muscles for any training that may take place when he next moved on from the dojo up to 'Earth meets Sky'. His current style of choice was Wing Chun, to allow some extra practice in the mornings.

Alongside this heavy physical training was his solo practice in using Shinzui Hashi. He steadily began to grasp the idea of it, sitting in meditative silence until you could feel…a sort of pulling at the back of his mind. He learned to maintain the trance whilst gathering chakra into the centre of his body, until he felt the pulling sensation. Then it was a matter of releasing the chakra to forge the bridge. The first time he performed the technique, back when he was sleeping after his impromptu 'graduation', everything occurred as a subconscious instinct. To master the strange technique, all Naruto had to do was tap into that instinct. It was difficult at first, but after three days practice Naruto could safely sit down and enter the state of mind needed to create Shinzui Hashi with speed and ease. He had even thought of an alternate form of it, but decided to leave it for awhile.

When it came to his training, Naruto had a strong idea of what he wanted to accomplish. First of all on his list was his chakra control. He knew he needed to improve on that, because good chakra control was what always separates the rookies from the pros. Most exercises had the dual purpose of increasing reserves, but since he naturally seemed to have massive quantities of chakra all that was needed was learning how to use it properly. Then again you can't have too much of a good thing, so if he could in anyway possibly increase his already vast chakra reserves he would.

He had been given four specific exercises by the scroll he had 'read', which were tree climbing, water walking, meditation and chakra burning. Tree climbing first teaches you how to control chakra, to bring out the proper amount to a certain area. The amount of chakra needed to climb a tree is small but exact, and it was written in the explanation that the bottom of the feet is the most difficult place to gather chakra in the body. It also helps to develop a ninja's stamina, because in battle gathering chakra is more difficult and the level of chakra needed varies from jutsu to jutsu. You take a kunai to mark out your place on a tree, and then try to surpass that mark as you get higher. You gather the chakra into your feet to make you stick to the tree, too much and the bark beneath your feet breaks, too little and your feet do not stick at all and you fall down. Naruto and his shadow clones did this in nine hours, running up the great tree's that ring the inside of 'Earth meets Sky'.

Water walking is a variation of tree walking, as it was another exercise that required a precise amount of chakra. In order to stay afloat atop the water, you needed to continuously expel the appropriate amount chakra into the water. This chakra control exercise is meant to teach how to create a set amount of chakra needed for the use of a jutsu. First you gather the chakra to your feet, and you must adjust the amount of chakra you expel to match your body weight. This was completed in seven hours, simple to Naruto after the tree walking, and his clones performed this training atop the large lake in the huge training area.

Next was a meditation exercise, which was different to the previous exercises. It did not teach how to gather a set amount of chakra like the previous two, but on improving concentration for gathering chakra. Imagining a leaf in your mind surrounded by a white background did this. You think of the leaf as a representation of yourself, and the white background as your excess unused chakra. You then concentrate on the leaf in your mind and try to gather chakra towards the leaf, not moulding the chakra in reality but in your mind. This was helpful in economising chakra use so that nothing is wasted. The meditation clearing was a natural place to perform this exercise.

The fourth and final exercise of the scroll was called chakra burning. This exercise dealt with training how to produce and mould chakra on a massive scale, as well as also increasing chakra capacity. It involved taking a large inanimate object such as a ball or rock, holding it between the palms of the hands as you sit Indian style as if you were meditating, and pumping as much chakra into that object for as long as you can manage. Naruto had the clones use the large boulders that ring the lake. This is to teach the user how to produce and control the flow of massive quantities of chakra needed for the more powerful jutsu.

Because of these exercises, Naruto was confident that he now had a grasp of chakra that could rival most chuunin. He had also studied on applications for chakra such as using it to amplify senses like hearing and sight, pumping it into the muscles for boosts of speed and strength when moving or hitting. These were just part of the myriad options available to a skilled shinobi.

Every third day he would leave his solitary training to go train with Lee in taijutsu, when Lee finished with his team meetings in the mornings. There was one occasion when Lee did not arrive because of a mission he had been assigned (walking the dogs of the village council, which included 'poop and scoop' duty), but Naruto was told a thorough tale by Lee when he turned up eventually. Apparently, his sensei had taken it as a challenge and had carried a dog on each shoulder whilst walking another ten. From what he had gathered from Lee's stories about the now infamous 'Gai-sensei', the man was both inspired and a complete head case. A strange almost paradoxical combination.

He surprised both Lee and himself in his speedy learning of Wing Chun; a style that Lee said was one of the best to start with. He had had four training sessions with the enthusiastic taijutsu specialist, as well as his time training up in 'Earth meets Sky' and the morning kata, and was beginning to grasp the basic applications and movements needed to maximise attack power without wasting energy. Sometimes Naruto would just stand and watch as Lee relentlessly pushed his body, pounding his trusty training post with ceaseless vigour. Naruto would practice a kata, and Lee would stand to the side and watch, correcting him if his posture was wrong, or a movement like a kick was wrong.

Wing Chun for Naruto seemed to be a perfect taijutsu style for him to use as a ninja. It had both lethal attacks that were both hard and fast, which keyed in the shinobi's role as an assassin. Then there was its solid defence. It taught how to read the opponents moves and quickly erect a defence to counter it, which keyed into the shinobi's other role as a guardian of others.

After he had completed his chakra control, Naruto had moved on to learning genjutsu as quickly as possible. This was because, in his mind, Naruto saw genjutsu as the one of the three main ninja arts that he knew the least of. First understood the basics of creating illusions. You imagine what you want to create seeing the illusion in your minds eye, envisioning the intricate details. Any sounds and smells must also be seen, and also how whatever you imagine feels like to the touch. You must believe that the illusion is real, which was completely contradictory when you thought about it. Then you concentrate your chakra and allow it to flow and create your illusion. So far Naruto had perfected basic illusions that affected one sense at a time, and for the time he was happy but he knew he would return to it later on down the line. Bringing his genjutsu up to what he thought took what was left of his first week after finishing the chakra control training.

At the Academy, all would be graduates were taught basic traps. Anything beyond the academy was self taught and based on circumstances. They were instructed how to utilise trip wires to connect traps. There were snares for catching an enemy off guard; these were usually used on trees with some bait for luring in the unwary. A small pit lined with sharpened stakes, buried kunai and so on was also taught. The most common trap that was taught to the Academy students was slings, which was used to propel what can only be described in general as ballistic arms. Kunai, shurikan, anything sharp or damaging would be used. It was all based on the ingenuity of the person that set up the traps.

The scroll from which he had learnt advanced trap creation was one of the scrolls he had happened to find during his 'moving in' to his mothers house. It emphasised the fine skill of using ones environment to its fullest possible advantage. For example. 'Command the battlefield and you command the battle' was a phrase that was repeated several times concerning the art of laying traps.

A tree can be used to hold a sling that can fire projectiles with rapid velocity. A bush conceals a trip wire. Sand and grass is good for pits. Also, the best traps are those that happen in sequence, leading the victim from one to the other. Something that seems obvious can lead to hidden traps. If you knew how to set a good trap, you also knew how to detect one because you can place yourself in your enemy's position and mindset, whilst knowing what signs to look for. Since this was more so reading up on trap types, whilst designing and creating said traps and envisioning what scenario's they can best be used for.

And then there was ninjutsu, that oh so wonderful blunt instrument of the shinobi lifestyle. This was the area where Naruto was currently working on. He had firmly created a mindset for himself to follow, which was 'If you're going to do something, do it right'. When he wanted to use a jutsu, he wanted to be sure that he had completely mastered it, then and only then would he be sure that it would work. So with this in mind, he decided to revisit all of the basic Academy jutsu he had been taught, such as the Henge jutsu. He then practiced each jutsu in turn until he was happy with them, he even learnt some that he had neglected to learn in his tenure such as the fabled Tonsou no Jutsu.

A particular example of the basic jutsu that he revisiting was the Bunshin jutsu, which had been placed right at the top of his 'ninjutsu-to-do' list. One thing Naruto came to note during his training, was that he had seemed to have developed this little habit, where if he couldn't do something it bothered the holy heck out of him when he thought about it. The Bunshin jutsu was one of these things; it had given him such grief during his Academy days.

Whenever he finished perfecting a jutsu, he often found himself silently marvelling at how easy everything seemed after his training in chakra control had been completed. Relearning all of the old ninjutsu had taken only taken a day, and after that it was all about learning new techniques to give him a wider variety in combat. He recalled the old saying, that to be even considered for the position of Hokage a shinobi must demonstrate mastery over a thousand ninjutsu. If that were truly the case, the Naruto would master that thousand ninjutsu, and then go on to learn ten thousand more. For these new techniques's he turned to the library in 'the Vault', taking his time to consider each and every new jutsu that he might conquer.

Of course he still remembered the jutsu he had copied from the Forbidden Scroll. It couldn't hurt to learn them…but not yet. Basic stuff first, just like his father had told him. There was also the jutsu left behind by his mother's forgotten clan, the Uzumaki. The kenjutsu form, the Uzumaki clan jutsu…the jutsu left for him by his mother. For now at least, they too were pushed to the back of the queue. As he sat, staring occasionally at the ink writing of his current scroll, Naruto wondered how he was going to pull off glossing over the sudden changes in his life.

"Guess tomorrow's the big day. But what about everyone else? I can imagine that they could pass off the new clothes without so much of a fuss, but what about the rest of me…hmmmmm. I guess for now I'll have to act like I was before all this happened, as much as it'll drive me nuts playing a moron. But, it cant be helped, there's still too many unsaid questions in my head about everything, and only after I'm satisfied will I even consider telling anyone else anything" Naruto muttered out loud, almost like he were talking to the walls. He then gave up the solo conversation and returned to his scroll.

**The Next Day **

Iruka watched as all of his students piled into the classroom. He felt pride swell inside of him, these were all the graduating members of his class, and it was full attendance. Nobody had failed, well except for a certain somebody but that little oversight had been corrected. As he gazed across the room, his eyes picked up on certain individuals and he couldn't help himself as began to gauge their chances of success in the life of a shinobi based on his own experiences.

First was a seemingly solitary boy, wearing tinted glasses and a blue overcoat that obscured his face and most of his body. 'Aburame Shino, of the Aburame bug clan. Not a very social boy, which may impede his teamwork. But he does have some impressive skills, and has all the qualities of a good leader'. He moved on to two boys, one with pineapple style haircut that was dozing on the desk, the other a chubby boy who was stuffing his face with potato chips. 'Nara Shikimaru and Akimichi Choji, sons of two thirds of the infamous Ino-Shika-Cho trio. Both not the best of students, passable grades, but their hijutsu gives them a slight advantage over the other students'.

After the two boys, Iruka's gaze was taken to the corner of the classroom, where a young girl was trying to hide herself as best as possible behind her hands. She had pale skin and lavender eyes, and was looking generally uneasy with her surroundings. 'Hyuga Hinata. Heir of the most powerful clan in Konoha, yet is a very shy girl. A potent bloodline should insure her success as a ninja, it did for her cousin Neji'

A barking caught his attention, and he sighed to himself. The owner of the small puppy making the noise was a loud boy wearing a fur lined hooded top, who was talking loudly to the puppy whilst ignoring or glaring at everyone around him. 'Inuzuka Kiba, and his puppy Akamaru. One of the most boisterous students I have ever taught, but that is the nature of his clan. Could do with some lessons on hygiene though'.

After Kiba, Iruka looked over to a raven-haired youth that was sitting alone facing the window of the classroom. His onyx eyes had no emotion in them, only this impassive contempt for everyone around him. 'Uchiha Sasuke. I should be proud as a teacher; he is a genius shinobi who is this year's top academy graduate. He is a natural as far as a ninjutsu is concerned, just like all of his clan have done before him. But he does need to open up to people, or he will never have the teamwork skills needed go far as a ninja. His pride will also have to deflate itself somewhat…' Iruka thought as he heard a commotion at the doorway '…which will be heard considering his popularity amongst the, ahem, young ladies of the village'

This was spurred, when two young girls barged their way through the doorway of the classroom and both declared themselves the winner of another pointless competition. One had long pink hair and green eyes, the other blonde hair and blue eyes. Both wore their hair up in a different fashion, and both were gazing at the same boy with hearts in their eyes. 'Haruno Sakura and Yamanaka Ino, two of the best kunoichi this year. Sakura is the smartest of them with best overall chakra control, but Ino has the most overall talent. And she has her families' hijutsu, which gives her an advantage. They are both rivals for Sasuke, and immune to the boy's obvious disregard for them.'

Both of the girls were now squabbling over a place next to the Uchiha boy, and were so loud that the rest of the room was watching them with a mix of irritation and fascination.

"Out of the way forehead girl"

"Move Ino-bunta, Sasuke wants me to sit by him don't you Sasuke"

"In your dreams, he wants me sitting by him"

This argument went back and forth for a couple of minutes, and both the two arguing girls and the rest of the classroom present didn't notice a certain blonde walk into the classroom quietly. He then slipped between them and took the seat one away from Sasuke before taking out a scroll and starting to read. He coughed loudly once to clear his throat, attracting the attention from the pair of kunoichi. Both were briefly taken aback by both his being there in the first place, and the new clothes he was wearing but the former in their minds quickly overcame the latter.

"Naruto?! What are you doing here, this is for graduates bake" said Sakura, turning her anger from Ino to the second favourite vent for her negative emotions. 'Stupid dumbass, take a hike' yelled Inner Sakura.

"Yeah Naruto, it's bad enough you flunked the exam, now your bothering Sasuke" added Ino

Naruto said nothing, only moving his finger to point to the forehead protector tied around his head, before returning to his scroll. A sort of silence descended on the room, everyone was waiting for Sakura and Ino's response. Both girls were not known for their patience or mild temper, and everyone was watching with apprehension for any impending violence that may ensue. Ino eyed Naruto's forehead with suspicion, and decided to break the silence. She liked to be the first at things.

"Naruto, where did you get that hitai-ate?" she asked. Sakura nodded at this, crossing her arms to add silent emphasis.

"I earn't it Ino-san, how else would I get it?" Naruto replied, not lifting his eyes from his scroll.

Both Sakura and Ino's faces went red from anger and embarrassment at the cool reply. All around them their classmates were looking to see their next move. Even Sasuke was watching out of the corner of his eye's on the proceedings. As interesting as brooding was to him, there were some things that amused him more, and seeing Naruto get beating to a pulp by angry females was one of them.

Hoping to calm the tense atmosphere, Iruka tapped the blackboard behind him to get the attention of all those watching the small scene between Naruto and the 'Angry pair'. "Naruto came to me after the exam last month and asked if he could retake it. I gave him the afternoon to practice, and then Mizuki-sensei and I tested him again. He passed, and I saw fit that Naruto could graduate with the rest of you". Okay, it was a lie, but only half a lie containing veiled truths. Naruto scoffed at Iruka's explanation, laughing to himself. 'Nice one sensei' he thought.

All eyes were on the tanned chuunin, and most seemed to accept the answer as a given. It was known that some people could retake the graduation exam under special circumstances, so that must be what had happened to Naruto. There were also some looks of scepticism from the more astute students of the class, Shikimaru being one of them. He had seen Naruto talking to Mizuki on his way home from the Academy, and whilst it had intrigued him that their newest and most secretive sensei was talking with the class loudmouth, he had passed it off as being 'too troublesome to think about'. But now that Mizuki had seemingly disappeared, citing personal reasons so Iruka had told them, the scenario was playing in Shikimaru's mind once more, and he couldn't make head nor tale of it. Sakura pushed past Naruto and sat between him and Sasuke, whilst Ino took a seat near Shikimaru.

**Elsewhere **

In a darkened room, a large group of adults watched the commotion of the classroom with mixed emotions through a clairvoyant crystal ball. Some are curious, others bored, others indifferent, but they all watched the encounter between Naruto and the pair of kunoichi. It was after Iruka's explanation that the ever present Sarutobi decided to speak up.

"These are the students that from now on you shall be training. What are your opinions so far?"

There were murmurs among the assembled jounin of 'fine' or 'they seem competent', but there were also several angry comments from some of the more zealous adults. "Hokage-sama, why are you allowing that…thing to become a shinobi. If I may be so bold, your decision to allow it to live at all puts the entire village in jeopardy" earning some nods from his like-minded fellows.

Sarutobi sighed to himself; it was always like this with some of the adults concerning Naruto. They just couldn't see beyond their misplaced stigma. "I am well aware of your views on the matter Ikkaku and they are overruled. This is the second warning you have received from me is it not?"

The jounin in question reflexively gulped at his leader's harsh tone, and seemed to accept the silent order to back off the issue. The jounin then turned their attention back to the crystal "Quiet…" one of them said; "…they're announcing the squads". They all already knew the squads due to a previous meeting with the Sandaime, but it was still amusing to watch the reactions of the graduates.

**The Classroom **

Iruka looked down at his trusty clipboard, which held in place with its worn metal clip the sheet of paper with the names of the graduates and what teams of three they would be placed in. He smiled at the memories the clipboard inspired the sensei's that had held it before him through the Academies history. 'Hehe, show time' he thought.

"Alright, quiet down and listen closely. I will now read out the teams that you will all be placed into…" and with that he started out reading the names, the assembled classroom listening intently. Most were quiet, so9me when they heard their name would say something like 'Alright' or 'Yeah, I'm with you…' throughout the list, and Naruto sat calmly reading his scroll. But on the inside, his stomach had begun tying itself in knots from anticipation. 'I haven't been called out yet, who am I going to be placed with. It had better not be Sasuke…wait a sec. I WANT to be placed with Sasuke, then I can show him up for the jackass he really is. Yeah, that'll be so good…' he thought, absentmindedly smiling too himself '…hang on, that's my name. Gotta keep the idiot act up, don't want to raise any suspicion'.

"Team 7. Uzumaki Naruto, Haruno Sakura…" Naruto remembered to cheer at the name "…and Uchiha Sasuke…" Sakura cheered this time, and inside Naruto was cheering slightly too "and your jounin sensei will be Hatake Kakashi"

Naruto's head bobbed up at the mention of the name, 'That's the guy dad mentioned when we first met. I'll have to ask him about him later tonight' he thought, crossing his arms in thought. He listened to the last teams being called before returning to his scroll. Hyuga Hinata, Inuzuka Kiba and Aburame Shino were placed in Team 8 with a jounin called Yuuhi Kurenai in charge of them. Team 9 was made up of three people he didn't know very well called Yosho, Ichibi and Hanzo, with a jounin called Ikkaku presiding over them. This was rounded up with Nara Shikimaru, Akimichi Choji and Yamanaka Ino making Team 10 with Sarutobi Asuma as their jounin sensei.

"Now all that is left is for you all to remain here until your respective sensei does arrive to pick you up. You can go home for lunch if you wish, but come back immediately after finishing. Dismissed" Iruka ended with his usual barking tone of voice, before giving them all a warm smile and leaving the room.

The noise of the classroom after Iruka left went back to the usual mix of shouting, talking and general conversation between everyone inside. Some left the room in their teams to hang out elsewhere, others stayed but steadily the amount of hopeful genin in the room trickled down to a small handful. There were the assembled members of the new Team 8, a pair of kunoichi avidly talking about Sasuke in hushed tones, and Naruto reading his scroll.

This one was titled 'The Five Chakra elements'. It focused on the strengths and weaknesses of elements fire, water, earth, lightning and wind. It also contained examples of individual jutsu's for each element, as well as descriptions of certain favourable or ill effects created when elements were combined. For example, if wind manipulated chakra were to be used in conjunction with the Katon! Gokakyu no Jutsu, the resulting attack would have at least an eighty percent increase in power.

It didn't take long for Naruto to finish the scroll, and after that it was a short break before he became bored. He had another scroll in his jacket, but he wanted to save that for later. 'I wonder what the others are doing, Sasuke and Sakura' he thought. Then, he had a wicked idea. "I'll have a little fun with them," he said, rubbing his hands gleefully.

**Elsewhere **

Sakura walked at the gentle yet speedy pace, her head turning left and right as she searched for the object of her affections. 'Where is Sasuke, he's usually around here somewhere. Were on the same team now, so he shouldn't object to us having lunch together…' then she blushed as her mind drifted to surprisingly dirty thoughts considering the fact that she and her classmates were yet to truly enter puberty. Her attention was caught when she heard a call from behind her. "Hey Sakura…chan, how are you today?"

She visibly grimaced, 'Of all the luck that I would run into Naruto, what and idiot' she thought, before turning to the source of the voice and adopting 'Angry face N°22' the face that silently said 'Go away Naruto'.

Naruto, unfazed by the pink haired girls vexed countenance, continued with his pre-prepared speech. "Listen I was thinking since were team mates and all we could have lunch together, not now if you want but sometime in the foreseeable future."

"Naruto…" Sakura half growled "…your annoying. Why would I want to spend time with a baka loser like you. Now move, I need to find Sasuke. I'm having lunch with him"

"Does he know yet" Naruto said under his breath. He was slightly taken aback by the venom in the girl's voice, but smiled when he knew what would happen next. "The way I heard it…" he said out loud, acting as nonchalant as possible as if he was just talking to himself "…Sasuke was having lunch at the opposite side of the Academy, on the bench near the southern entrance"

This little white lie drew Sakura like a moth to the flame, and when he saw this Naruto decided to add a little fuel to the fire "I heard it from Ino…she said she was going there to have lunch with Sasuke"

"Ino-bunta!!" Sakura yelled, before sprinting full pelt in the direction of the southern entrance.

Naruto scoffed at the sight, 'And now for phase two' he thought, before vanishing in the blink of an eye.

**Somewhere other than the last place **

He reappeared, much to the surprise of a certain pineapple-haired classmate, crouching on wall horizontally. Shikimaru watched as Naruto flipped onto the rooftop above him and began moving in the direction of a certain stoic boy who was currently eating a rice ball lunch.

"Shikimaru! Hey Shikimaru, listen when I'm talking to you!" berated his new blonde team mate. Ino hadn't noticed Naruto; she had been too busy telling Choji to stop eating potato chips in her presence. Now she was moving on to her other team mate to assert her dominance as the leader of the team, but halfway through her rant she had noticed that he wasn't listening. The nerve of him, she couldn't understand the boy to save her life. When she looked in the direction he had been looking, to identify what thing or person that could rival her attention, she saw a boy dressed in blackish clothes somersault into a nearby classroom. Nothing so special about that, considering this was a school for training ninja. But what really caught her eye was the rope the boy was holding, which was currently slipping around the body of her true love and soul mate.

"Naruto, leave Sasuke alone! Don't make me come over there!" she shouted. To her it was a reserved scolding tone of voice, but to the two boys nearby it was a grating cry like an eagle being hit with a kunai. Somewhere, Shikimaru could swear he heard Akamaru howling.

But it was too late. From Sasuke's point of view, one minute he was happily eating his lunch, enjoying the quite and solitude away from his mass of fan girls, the next he was being forcefully pulled by a long length of rope into a small classroom behind him. Next thing he knew, he was struggling against Naruto, and initially he was winning until Naruto grabbed his arm using a taijutsu move he had never seen before, and he was then pinned to the floor with an arm lock.

"Let me go dope" was what he tried to say, but all he managed to do was splutter before another Naruto pushed a cloth into his mouth and a third started tying his limbs. This disturbed Sasuke greatly 'How could he overpower me so easily? What jutsu is this, these aren't regular Bunshins' were his thoughts, and he focused a gaze that could strip paint off a wall on the blonde, who dispersed the clones and bent down to look Sasuke in the face.

"I would say I'm sorry Sasuke, but I'm not the type for lying. I will explain myself though. All I am doing is having a bit of fun, think of this as a prank nothing more. Anyway, you'll probably be free in a matter of minutes, what with your 'awe inspiring skills'…" this part was said in an over dramatic fashion "…so just sit tight and think about what just occurred. See ya" he saluted the Uchiha, before performing a Henge to look like him. He then hopped out the window and was gone.

The trio opposite him watched with interest at the events. They couldn't see what happened inside the room, but when Sasuke exited the room most would have assumed that naturally Naruto had been beaten and was now lying unconscious minus some teeth. Well Ino did, and immediately started swooning over Sasuke and how strong he was and how when they were married they would have eight children, the others left her to her fantasies. But then Shikimaru noticed another Sasuke leave the opposite classroom (Ino was still locked in a fantasy or something like that), and as his analytical mind quickly put two and two together he smirked and thought 'That Naruto, what an interesting guy'.

**Back to Sakura **

Sakura sighed in resignation and hung her head. She had looked all over the place, but she couldn't find Sasuke anywhere. "Where is he?" she asked the tree to her right. Since there was no one else to ask, she would have to make do with the nearby foliage. "How am I ever going to get Sasuke to love me like I love him. I can't use my body, so my mind is the only thing I have going for me and that cant be used for seductive purposes. This is so depressing"

She looked up and gasped, before blushing a light shade of pink. Opposite her was Sasuke, leaning against a tree trunk with his arms crossed, and the weirdest thing was he was smiling! At her! She unconsciously turned her head, squirming as if she were being studied. Then Sasuke got up and sat beside her, before he turned and started talking. Sakura tried to listen, but her young mind kept drifting away into thoughts best left unsaid.

"So, Sakura. I was thinking during one of my brooding moments…" inside Naruto was laughing his head off "…that since were on the same team it would be a good idea if we talked some more. I know I've never really paid you any attention like I do to the rest of you annoying fan girl types, but for the sake of co-operation amongst team mates I'm hear now. Is there anything you would like to talk about?"

Sakura was in a daze. A thousand naughty ideas were drifting in her mind, Inner Sakura was screaming 'KISS HIM KISS HIM KISS HIM' whilst making lewd gestures (not that Sakura could actually see them of course). "Will you marry me?" she eventually mumbled said, not really paying attention to what she was saying, still focusing on her idle fantasies with a crimson blush on her cheeks.

Naruto looked at her as if she had grown a second head, 'She wants to marry him?! For god's sake were only twelve years old and she's considering marriage, and from the blush, hardcore sex. Man this girl needs a slap of harsh reality, how could I have ever liked her. Sure she's nice if you ignore the psychotic violence, but she's thinking way too far ahead with everything'.

"Look Sakura, here's the thing. I can't marry you, because there's this whole other prior obligation that I have to take care of. Here's some free advice, focus on the now and not the when or where. All of us genin, were still just kids starting out on our own. So no to the marriage, yes to possible friendship if you leave me alone. There's lots of time for you to find the right guy"

He turned to see her reaction, and saw that she was close to tears. "But Sasuke, you're the one I want. I only want to impress you, your opinion is the only thing I value"

Naruto was really pissed by this. 'If you value his opinion so much, then take the damn hint that he doesn't like you. Its like you have a god damn filter that translates silence or 'leave me alone' as 'I love you Sakura and I want to be yours forever'. Give me a freaking break here!'

He stood up and looked away. "Listen up and listen well. I don't like you that way. I have never liked you or any of you annoying prissy fan girls, throwing yourselves on me morning, noon and night. Sure it gives me an ego boost, upon which I thrive to compensate for my obvious lack of sympathy because I'm an idiot, but it gets dull. Really dull. Have I ever said anything that would give you the impression of reciprocation. No I haven't, so just grow up and find another centre for your universe. Take Naruto for instance, I sit there brooding and being me, whilst he tries so hard for people to like him and he never gets anything but harsh glares and scorn. You know what, I'll take a page from your book. You're annoying!"

And with that he walked away in the direction of the classroom, leaving a clearly traumatised Sakura sitting there with tears running down her cheeks. She played the words over and over again in her mind, looking for a lie or false information but there was nothing. And the icing on the cake was, that it was all true. Since she was a little child she had based her entire being on Sasuke, trying to get him to notice her but for naught. Wiping her eyes with a piece of clothing, she got up and slowly walked in the direction of the classroom. She needed to do some serious thinking.

**A corridor **

Sasuke stalked down the corridor, looking for the source of his anger. Naruto, he would find the dobe and pound him into flat mushy goo before roasting it with his family speciality, fire jutsu. How dare Naruto humiliate him like that, sure nobody had seen the incident but it was the principle that counts. He glared when he saw himself approaching, it was him. The fake Sasuke looked at him, smiled and in a poof of smoke returned to looking like Naruto. "Hey Sasuke-teme, what's up. I see you got free okay, probably the Tonsou jutsu right? Anyways, I hope it wasn't that inconvenient, bet it was embarrassing me beating you, but not inconvenient."

Sasuke growled, how dare the blonde baka be so nonchalant about it, like it didn't matter. He seemed to give off this air of superiority beneath this calm carefree facade that was so infuriating (oh the irony). As his mind quickly buried the thoughts of inadequacy beneath the usual superiority complex that all elite Uchiha had, Sasuke confidently smirked "You dobe, you didn't beat me in the slightest. All you did was catch me by surprise, nothing more" he finished, his usual arrogance freshly rebuffed and in place once more.

Naruto just shrugged, "Whatever dude, if that's how it happened in jackass world then fine. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to attend some business" and he walked past the seething prodigy and entered the nearby boys bathroom. Sasuke huffed, and just for the purpose of venting frustration drew a kunai and threw it hard at the bathroom door. The knife embedded itself in the body of the male sign on the door firmly, and satisfied with his work the Uchiha walked away to the classroom.

Inside the bathroom, Naruto sat on the toilet reading another scroll, and when the kunai hit the door he calmly looked up and hummed at the sight of the tip poking through the wood and chuckled. 'I see he took it calmly, man this is going to be fun' he thought, before returning to his scroll.

**Later **

Sasuke, Sakura and Naruto sat in the empty classroom waiting for their very late sensei. Each was slightly occupied with their own business, Sasuke was brooding about the incident earlier, Sakura was moping as she re-evaluated the past few years of her life and Naruto was reading. Again (the boy reads a lot now doesn't he). He looked up from his scroll, glanced around the room and frowned. He'd seen more cheer in a funeral parlour (don't ask, it's a long story involving a prank on some Hyuga and a lack of hiding places), so to lighten the mood he decided to play a little practical joke on their new sensei. He was late after all, so he deserved it.

Leaving his scroll on the desk, he got up and took a nearby blackboard eraser. Using a chair to gain some extra height (he could have walked up the wall but that would be showing off) Naruto wedged the eraser in a gap between the door and its frame, so that when the unsuspecting jounin entered the room POW! Down comes the eraser onto his head, covering him in chalk dust. It was a classic prank, performed by the masters of the art for centuries since the creation of educational institutions such as this one.

The others watched with varying degrees of amusement. Sasuke found it funny that Naruto could think that he could get the jump on a jounin, an elite ninja whilst Sakura was simply happy to have something happen that could make her feel happy. Right now she was feeling depressed, even Inner Sakura seemed to be unusually silent, but she did perk up at the sight of Naruto's prank. 'I just love this stuff' she crowed, and Sakura decided to act more like herself and scold the blonde. At least she still had a part of her life that she couldn't question.

"Naruto, what are you doing? That'll never work on a jounin"

"If it does it does, if it doesn't it doesn't. Anyway, he deserves it for being late" the blonde replied casually, before moving the chair he had used for a boost and returning to his scroll. This act raised a sudden question in Sakura that on reflection had been niggling at the back of her mind for a couple of hours.

"By the way Naruto, you seem to be reading a lot more than you used to. In fact, I've never seen you read at all. Also, you've changed since I saw you last a month ago during the graduation exam. What have you been doing?" Sakura asked

"In answer to your first question, I have discovered the joys of reading. It's a new hobby I picked up that's all, and most of the stuff I read is shinobi related anyways so you can file it under 'extra curricular training' if you want. For the second question, lets just say that I have grown up over this last month. Gained some much needed wisdom and insight," Naruto replied in a calm voice, trying to remain as ambiguous as possible with his answers. It would be better to give half-truths than lie's, it would keep them off his case longer.

Sasuke huffed, and Sakura nodded in affirmation. They seemed to buy it. Their attention was then diverted by the sound of footsteps coming from the corridor. They listened intently as the sound grew closer and closer, until the door creaked wide open. A head poked itself into the room, and the three watched as the eraser fell down. Thud! It hit a mass of spiky silver hair and there was an explosion of chalk powder.

Coughing briefly, the owner of the head fully entered the room. He was a tall man wearing a jounin garb of flak jacket and bodysuit, his one covering the lower portion of his face as well as his body. He also wore his hitai-ate slanted across his head so that it covered his left eye. He dusted himself off and did something that really creeped them out. His eye sort of did this smile when the eyelid closed. They all shuddered involuntarily.

"Hmmm, my first impression is…you're all idiots. I am your jounin sensei Hatake Kakashi, now all of you follow me" he said, motioning for them to follow with one hand.

Sasuke, Sakura and Naruto followed Kakashi onto the roof of the school, where they had sometimes gone for geographical lessons, or if Iruka-sensei had wanted to do something different to spice up a boring subject. They each took a seat on the semi-circular stone steps, with Kakashi leaning on the rails opposite. Naruto couldn't quite put his finger on it, but there was something about the man that unsettled him a little. Maybe it was because he had caught Kakashi giving him this long stare at least three times in the fifteen minutes that he had known the man. Every time he looked back, Kakashi gave him that creepy 'eye smile'.

"So, what are we doing up here Kakashi-sensei, if you don't mind me asking" asked Sakura, the arrival of her new sensei lifting her from her morose attitude for the time being.

"Well I thought since were going I'm going to be your sensei it would be a good idea for me to get to know you guys. Break the ice a little, if you know what I mean" Kakashi replied.

"What do you want us to say?" once again Sakura asking the questions, the others listening intently.

"You know, name, dreams for the future, hobbies, likes and dislikes. Stuff like that"

"Why don't you go first" Sasuke supplied. He was curious about the man who would be supposedly helping him advance...enough to beat HIM. His gaze darkened as memories began to play in his head.

"Me? Why not. My name is Hatake Kakashi, but you already knew that. I don't really want to tell you my likes or dislikes. Dreams for the future...never really thought about it. As for hobbies...I have some" and finished with a smile. There was a long silence, and then the three pre-teens realised that it was their turn to share. 'That was helpful, we only learnt his name' was the universal thought passing between them.

"Okay, I'll go first..." Naruto started "...my name is Uzumaki Naruto. I like ramen, learning new things, and the ramen from the Ichiraku Ramen stand that Iruka-sensei buys me and I also like reading. I dislike people who look down on others for reasons beyond their control and then there's the three minutes it takes for cup ramen to cook, I don't like that. My dream...well that's obvious. I want to be Hokage, the greatest Hokage that there has ever been, and then people will acknowledge my existence. Hobbies...pranks and training I guess"

'A blend of normality and the bizarre. Seems he grew up to be an…interesting one. But I suppose considering who his parents were, that's no surprise.' Kakashi thought, his eyes growing moist with the memories of his sensei and friend. Shaking away the feelings, Kakashi pointed to Sakura in an effort to keep the ball rolling. "You next" he said in a matter of fact way of talking.

'What do I say, up until today all the answers would be easy but now, now I don't know who I am' Sakura thought, hanging her head in defeat. She then realised that everyone was looking at her with puzzled expression. "Oh, my name is Haruno Sakura, my likes are...were someone, my hobbies, well...I like to cook sometimes. Dreams for the future, well I don't have any right now. Dislikes…well Naruto annoys me...a lot"

Naruto winced 'I was hoping she'd get over that too, oh well at least its not all Sasuke Sasuke Sasuke anymore'

Kakashi hummed at the unsure tone of Sakura's little speech 'Its like her entire view about her life has radically changed in the space of the a couple of hours, what happened to her' he couldn't help but think, his ability to read 'beneath the beneath' coming to the fore. "Moving on, last but not least you," he pointed to Sasuke.

Narrowing his eyes at Kakashi, Sasuke began to slowly speak, "My name is Uchiha Sasuke. I dislike many things and there's not much that I like. My dream is not a dream but an ambition that WILL be achieved. I shall resurrect my clan and kill a certain man". The silence that followed was palpable; a multitude of thoughts hung in the air.

'Seriously OTT on the melodrama' Naruto rolled his eyes and shook his head, 'I thought so' thought Kakashi, 'Kinda cool, but really moody. When did Sasuke get so creepy' thought Sakura.

"Okay, with that finished with we can move on. As of tomorrow, Team 7 will start its duties. We start with a survival test," said Kakashi. He wanted to move on quickly with this small talk, he had heard via the pervert grapevine that the new Icha Icha Paradise was on sale.

"But Kakashi-sensei..." piped up Sakura "...we already did a survival exercise at the Academy. Why do we need to do another?"

"Oh I know about that. But this one's going to be a little different" Kakashi replied, a small smirk on his face. Naruto noticed this, but not from seeing an actual smirk because of the covered lower face. What Naruto saw was a slight shift in Kakashi's visible cheek muscle, and that was all he needed.

'Something's up with him, a secret that he's only barely holding in' he thought.

"How different?" Sasuke asked in his 'your-going-to-tell-me' tone of voice.

He was answered with laughter, a deliberately half-mad tone used only when trying to intimidate. "You want to know? Alright, on your heads then. Tomorrow is part of the second phase of your graduation exam. A series of tests will be conducted on each team that has been passed by your chuunin academy teachers, individually unique to each jounin sensei. Its purpose is too see if you graduates have what it takes to REALLY become genin, its not enough to be able to pass an exam just any old academy class test. A genin is placed in situations where they can easily lose their lives, so you need to be tested in real life situations. The Sandaime made this decision during his early years as Hokage, and it was proved to be both thorough and logical. Overall, only 9 out of the 21 academy graduates pass this final test giving a failure rate of 66," he then proceeded to take out three sealed envelopes.

"Here is the information you require for the test, where it is being held and so on. Bring your ninja gear, and a small word of advice. Don't eat breakfast tomorrow, unless you like throwing up that is."

And with that he disappeared in a puff of smoke, leaving the three 'genin' gaping open-mouthed. Naruto groaned out loud "Son of a bitch. I knew there was something more to this, how couldn't I see it before. All we needed to become fully-fledged ninja was to pass a written exam and make a couple of bunshin. It's too easy." he said out loud, ignoring the others as his newly 'upgraded' mind processed all of the eventualities involved with the idea of a survival exam.

"Really" Sasuke said, leaving the word hanging in the air. Both he and Sakura had watched Naruto's little 'controlled autism' moment, and had both been confused and curious as to the blonde's words. 'Now that I think about it, it was too simple' Sakura thought to herself, and she was the smartest of all the kunoichi.

"Uuuuh, nothing just ignore me," Naruto said, waving his hands in front of him in a warding fashion. "Anyways, see you guys tomorrow" he quickly said, before vaulting off the roof of the academy. Sakura and Sasuke ran to the railing, just in time to see Naruto running down the buildings wall and onto the ground below. Both were left with the same question 'Is this really Naruto?'

Naruto however did not know he had been seen, he was too embroiled in what preparations he would have to make for the test tomorrow. His mind was a buzz with thoughts 'Okay so its early afternoon, that gives me until tomorrow morning if I want to go all out training all night, or at least seven hours if I want to sleep. If it's a survival exercise then that means woodland terrain or training grounds of some kind. He said to bring ninja gear, so that means a fight...against a jounin.'

With that thought, his mind turned to the task ahead of him 'I'll have to master that jutsu in that time, lets do this' and he ran towards his home with all due haste.

**Later **

Naruto collapsed onto the grass beneath his feet, panting heavily. The sun has set about an hour ago, and the stars were already shining in a clear black-blue night sky. He had pushed himself hard to master it, but in the end he had done it. Using a total of 45 clones it had taken half the time he had thought it would take. He had even been able to get started on another ninjutsu, one that if mastered meant he could attain a whole new tier of power and skill. He lay there laughing even though his lungs were burning 'This is awesome, Kakashi-sensei isn't going to know what hit him'.

He allowed some time for the exhaustion brought by the mental stress to leave his body, and felt the now familiar tingling sensation of assimilated information inserting itself into his mind, filling a slot that he hadn't even known existed. He headed home after that; not feeling bothered by the dark at all. He had always had potent senses of sight, smell and hearing, bordering on levels close to animals in acuteness. He had made a point to never reveal this piece of information, even old man Sarutobi. So seeing in the dark for Naruto was child's play.

He arrived home with a slight sense of fatigue, the regenerative abilities given to him by his unwanted prisoner coupled with his huge reserves of stamina eliminating the tired feelings in his muscles from the training and the fogginess in his head. He wasn't fresh as a daisy, but he wasn't about to collapse either.

He bathed to wash away any sweat or dirt from his body, and then entered his unofficially dubbed 'meditation room'. It was a small room located towards the back of the buildings second floor. It was special because it had a large outer balcony that looked out onto the seemingly vast forest that surrounded the village. There was something about the wilderness that appealed to him, on a primal level, but he once again passed it off as a side effect of the kitsune. He calmed himself, and prepared to enter the 'Shinzui Hashi'. He had already been there a week ago, after his training with it had finished up to his standards, but today had been unique so he thought it would be a good idea to fill the dead guy in on everything.

He sat in the middle of the room, lit some incense sticks (weirdly enough he had found it helped, breathing in the scented smoke) and began the meditation process. For what seemed to be hours he sat on his mat Indian style, feeling every sensation leave his body and be replaced by a sense of weightlessness. When he felt this feeling, he began building up a reservoir of chakra within what he could only guess to be the core of his being. It was quite a disturbing experience, this part of the Shinzui Hashi. It combined the feeling of falling through nothing with this steady pressure, like his body was a balloon being filled with water till it burst. When these two feeling reached what could only be described as a peak, he released the chakra he had built up. It seemed to flood out into...somewhere, as if flowing down a freshly carved out riverbank. A bright light flashed before his minds eyes, and even though his eyes were closed in the trance he scrunched them tighter involuntarily.

**Elsewhere **

Naruto 'opened' his eyes, and gazed at the peering face of his father. "Hey there kiddo. Miss me?" Minato said his face barely an inch from Naruto's. Naruto chuckled and pushed him away, getting his bearings on where in the 'spirit Konoha' he was. This time, he had appeared in a forest clearing, the second time that had happened. Not the same clearing mind you, but you get the idea.

Minato waited patiently for his son to finish his little look see, "So how's everything been for you? Last time you came you said you wouldn't be back for at least two weeks. Something about 'Lets do this every fortnight so I'll have lots to talk about' or something like that. What gives, anything cool happen whilst you were training?"

Naruto's posture fell into a relaxed position, with his hands behind his head. "Yeah something like that. Today I got placed in my 3 man team and met my new sensei" he said with a grin.

"Who'd you get?" Minato enquired.

"Hatake Kakashi" came the reply.

Minato looked at Naruto for a minute, and then spoke "He got spiky silver hair…" Naruto nodded "…and wears his hitai-ate over his left eye like this…" he placed a hand over his eye, Naruto nodded again. Minato paused for another minute, before starting to bark with laughter. He laughed for a while, so hard that he was clutching his sides towards the end of it.

Noticing his son's puzzled expression, Minato waved him away "Sorry, it's just that I find coincidences like this to be hilarious. I mean Sarutobi-san taught Jiraiya-sensei, Jiraiya-sensei taught me, I taught Kakashi and now he's teaching you. It's like freakin dominoes or something. And don't tell me, Kakashi's taking you for a 'survival exercise' tomorrow?"

Naruto nodded a little surprised that his dad knew about that without him even saying anything "Yeah, he said to bring our ninja gear and not to eat any breakfast"

Once again Minato burst out laughing, but recovered slightly quicker this time. "The bell test, Kakashi is testing you with the bell test. Man they just keep on coming don't they. Now your team mates, do they fall under the categories of 'genius', 'layabout', and 'violent kunoichi'. Am I right? Please say I'm right."

Again Naruto gave another nod, whilst wondering over and over how his father knew so much without being told. After some more laughter from the ex-Hokage, Naruto decided to pose a question. "What's going on with this? How is it that you know everything, I'm running out of things to say without even saying them it pissing me off, and creeping me out."

Minato slapped his son on the back, knocking the kid off balance slightly with the fatherly gesture. "I'm sorry, its just this whole same fate thing is really really funny. I told you that I was Kakashi's sensei, and that my sensei before me was the student to the Sandaime, who in turn was the student to the Nidaime and Shodaime. Also, every one of those teams has had a kunoichi with a violent temperament, a genius ninja who is also a slight loner or outcast, and a ninja considered by many to be a stupid loser. Every single one of them following the same path throughout history, these teams are destined to occur once every generation…"

"…Kakashi was the genius for me, Obito the lazy idiot and Rin the slightly violent one who kept hitting Obito. I was the genius for Jiraiya-sensei, and Sanji and Kima were the violent kunoichi and slower of our little genin trio. Jiraiya-sensei was the Sandaime's idiot, he kept on fighting with Tsunade-hime and Orochimaru was their genius. And Sarutobi was the genius that became known as the Professor because of his mastery of all the technique's known to Konoha in his time. I'm telling you Naruto, it's a really freaky fate/destiny domino thing going on here."

Naruto thought about it, and came to pretty much the same conclusion as his father. If what he was told was true, things did seem to be repeating themselves over and over. Its surprising nobody else noticed the pattern yet. Returning back to a more productive area of conversation, Naruto had to ask out of curiosity "What's this bell test you mentioned? Seems like you know a lot about it."

"Sorry, can't say a thing. It's for you to discover for yourself as you do it, but I will gives you a hint. Its three people for a reason." Minato replied, trying to sound as sage-like as he could. All he did was sound like a goofy Sarutobi with a sore throat.

"Hey, that's no fair. Tell me old man, don't make me make you!" Naruto said in mock anger, lunging for his father.

"Oh yeah, well I'd like to see you try gaki" Minato replied in kind. And with that, the pair began wrestling each other in mock combat. Minato eventually managed to pin a wriggling Naruto to the ground in a strong headlock, messing up his boy's hair for added humiliation and fun. "You're a little way away from being able to beat me kid, but keep practising and you may be able to provide me with a challenge"

"Oh yeah" Naruto retorted, using punching his fathers foot as hard as he could. This gave him the distraction he needed, and with a heave he threw the older man over his shoulder and held him pinned to the ground with an arm behind his back.

"Okay okay I give, I surrender" he was let up, rubbing he shoulder with a grin. "That wasn't half-bad there son, you actually gave me a dead arm...wait I'm dead anyway…whatever. So everything's good with you, training's cool and all that."

Naruto grinned, and launched into a long detailed speech about what he had been doing, and the jutsu he mad mastered hours earlier. Minato listened patiently through the descriptions, and was surprised at the name he heard at the end. He paled slightly as he recalled what it did, and the dangers using it.

"You're learning the Fuusaishuu jutsu! Where did you get information on that, it's not included in the Vault I know that for a fact."

"Uh, yeah. I got it from the Forbidden scroll, its one of the jutsu I copied down. I memorised it when practising my Kage Bunshin training style, so now its just learning it. It seemed pretty cool, and those others were just as awesome. What's wrong with it?" he asked, unsure at the drop in his father's tone of voice.

"So you know all of them?" Minato said slowly, his gaze not leaving Naruto for a second.

"Well if you mean know in the sense that 'I know how its done' then yeah, but not 'I know how to do them right now'" Naruto replied, wording his response carefully.

"You have got to be shitting me. This is unprecedented, people have learnt one but not all of them. And you're going ahead with this, learning how to use them perfectly and all that?" Minato said aloud, walking in a small circle as if he were the only person present.

"Why not, it's just a ninjutsu after all. Isn't it?" Naruto asked, his curiosity once again peaking at the sight of his father deep in thought.

Minato noticed his son's hard yet curious expression, and quickly smiled unconvincingly. "Look, I need some time to think on this okay. Who know, maybe it'll all pan out and everything's going to be fine. But in any case I need to discuss this with some people who are wiser than me, so you just sit tight. You told me your devising a faster version of Shinzui Hashi, so how about you work on that and when your done we'll talk, promise. Okay?"

Naruto acquiesced slightly, and decided that in the meantime he could work on the technique anyway so it would be no big deal not receiving answers for a while. "Okay dad, deal. But remember you promised answers. Anyway, see ya later" and with that he formed the release seal and broke the link. Minato watched as his son faded away back to the world of the living. His eyes darted to a tree to his right.

"You heard of all that?"

Two men emerged from the shadows of the trees. Both were wearing an old variety of ninja uniform, a black full bodysuit with shin-gaurds and bracers, but both had variations on it. One had crimson armour dotted about on his shoulders and chest. He was tall, with long black hair held back by a Konoha hitai-ate, and his face bore a semi-stern expression. The other had blue armour, and the top of his body suit had a ring of fur and went around the shoulders like a collar. He was more willowy in physique when compared to the other, with spiky white blonde hair and an unusual hitai-ate that was entirely had out of metal with no cloth behind it. Like the other, he bore a semi-stern expression.

"Your son is a most interesting boy Minato-san, as expected of someone who share's your blood," the taller one said.

"Yes, we must meet him ourselves next time," answered the shorter one with the blue armour.

"Sure, if that's what you want, can't wait to see the kids face. But what about the Fuusaishuu jutsu, will that endanger him in any way?" Minato asked the pair.

"No. There is no need to panic Minato-san; your son shall be fine. The five-saishuu jutsu are some of the only jutsu sealed away in the Forbidden Scroll that have no ill effect. They were only placed there because of the enormous level of power they can grant to their master. That alone is the reason for them being considered dangerous. But there is the unknown factor of what could happen if he were to master them all. That is something that was never happened, not since their creation. And only then, it was for 'that' conflict," said the shortest of the pair.

"Is my son in danger?" Minato asked a hard undertone beneath his usually carefree tone.

"Yes…and no. We only know what you have told us of the prophecy, but it was stated that 'He who bears the nine fold evil shall face the nine fold death' so we must be careful if that is what you are thinking" this time it was the tallest of the pair speaking.

Minato sighed and ran his fingers through his hair "I'll have to tell him eventually…but not yet. He isn't ready. Thank you Shodaime-san, Nidaime-san"

"Minato-san, I thought we had been through this. Call us by our names, Kashiwa and Yanagi. Those titles died as we did" Yanagi said with a hint of sarcasm.

Minato smirked "Yeah, sure" before looking up into the sky of the shadowy Konoha with a forlorn gaze.

**The Next Day **

Naruto walked towards the area designated in the letter from Kakashi as to where the 'test' would be taking place. 'Dad mentioned last night something about a bell test is that all this is just getting a bell from somewhere. What sort of challenge is that' he thought. Then he remembered the training last night and was filled with a warm sense of achievement. Whatever his new sensei had in store for him, he was ready. With a contented smile he reached into his backpack and took out an apple to eat.

"No breakfast huh? I'll take my chances," he proclaimed out loud. In the distance, he could see the spot and Sasuke and Sakura were already there. "Morning you guys, nice day for a survival test huh," he shouted to them. Both had either been staring into middle distance and sleeping because it took another call for them to notice his presence. Both specifically noticed the green juicy apple in his hand, and without knowing it started to drool slightly. Both had heeded Kakashi's 'advice' on not eating anything, and by now were quiet hungry.

"Naruto, what are you doing. You're late, and Kakashi-sensei said we weren't supposed to eat any breakfast or we would throw up. Are you some kind of masochist or something?"

"And good morning to you to Sakura" Naruto replied with a strangely happy voice. "You know, it was only a suggestion not to eat anything, not an order. Also when you think about it, it's really stupid to not eat before a survival exercise because you'll have no energy to move. Plus judging by his tardiness yesterday, I can bet that Kakashi-sensei wont be here for a little while yet."

'Like I haven't realised that by now' Sasuke thought angrily. He had had time to think over the exercise the other day, yet had still decided not too eat. It must have been a trick in Kakashi's voice; he had been so convinced by it. Then a memory popped into his head concerning a certain blonde who happened to be close by.

"Naruto, yesterday Sakura and I saw you running down the wall of the Academy. How or where did you learn how to do that?" it wasn't so much of a question as a demand, 'And where can I learn it' Sasuke thought to himself.

Sakura nodded "I read up on it last night. That was tree climbing, an advanced chakra control exercise. How did you find out about it"?

Naruto began to panic 'Crap they saw me, need to think of something quickly', "Uuuh, same way you did Sakura" he said, a bead of sweat running down his forehead.

"By asking my dad?" Sakura said accusingly.

"Good morning everyone" said a voice from the tree's. They turned, and Naruto breathed a sigh of relief 'Saved by the tardy pervert'. It was Kakashi, crouching on a tree branch waving at them. "Your late!" Sakura yelled, all thought of interrogating Naruto replaced by anger at the man who robbed her of her beauty sleep.

Kakashi smiled to himself. He had really arrived around the same time as Naruto, but had decided to bide his time to see what happened. That and it made him later and he oh so enjoyed the reactions from people when he turned up saying some lame excuse. After years of being late in honour of Obito's memory, he could honestly say that he could see why his best friend had always insisted on doing it. I was simply hilarious to keep people hanging for an extended length of time. Now for the fun part, the excuse he would give.

"Sorry, a black cat crossed by path and I had to take the long way around to avoid it"

'Our survey says…bullshit' thought Naruto wryly. He had gotten the low-down on Kakashi from his dad the previous night, so he knew all about the mans habits. Learning about his chosen reading material had been painful; Naruto cringed at the memory. He nodded when he heard Sakura challenge the obvious lie.

Kakashi raised an eyebrow when he saw Naruto's apple, 'Guess he saw through the deception. Oh well, I'll just have to go harder on him being as he has more energy' and then he decided to focus on the task at hand. He produced before the genin's eyes an alarm clock, two neatly wrapped bento and two bells on strings. Setting the alarm, Kakashi looked to his students.

"This clock is set to go off at noon. You have until then to take these bells from me. Get them, and you can eat the lunches I brought…" this produced a rumbling from the stomachs of Sakura and Sasuke, whilst Naruto simply took another bite from his apple "…if you fail to get a bell, you shall be tied to one of those posts over there…" he pointed to three largish training posts "…and I will eat the lunch in front of you. You must come at me with the intention of killing me, or you will have no chance of getting them." He paused for a minute, allowing the information to sink in a little. "Oh, and did I forget to mention that you'll also be sent back to the Academy for another year" he said with his 'eye smile' on full blast. He smiled when he saw the shuddering.

Sakura perked up as a thought struck her "But sensei, there are only two bells and two lunches, and only three of us"

Naruto was already reaching a conclusion, his brain processing the information fast with pinpoint accuracy. Naruto was still finding it slightly unnerving the speed his brain now worked at. It was frightening, sort of like knowing an answer before the question has been asked, except you barely knew the question anyway. Or something like that.

'If there's only two bells then that means that at least one of us is going to be tied to the post. The hunger and desire to have the lunches creates dissension between us. The fact that our adversary is a jounin means that at our current level we'll have work together…' then a memory of some words flitted through his brain, which already was using it to alter the equation and outcomes scenario's it was broadcasting. 'Its three people for a reason' Naruto thought, and then it hit him. Teamwork.

'That's it that's the purpose of this entire exercise. Teams are made of three people, to support each other using their strengths to cover the others weaknesses. All teams need to work together in perfect harmony; or else any missions they attempt will fail. That's all there is too it. But that means that I need to convince the others to work with me…crap' he thought, but in his head he was already coming up with an idea. It was a long shot, but he would have to do it to make the others see sense.

Kakashi saw Naruto's eyes light up momentarily, a flicker but that was all that was necessary. 'Seems the so-called dead last has figured it out. And he's the first to ever do it this fast since myself all those years ago' his mind wandered into memories of his childhood, he the young chuunin and his new team mates the beginning genin, those were the days.

But he went back to reality, and decided to put Naruto on the spot. 'Let's see if he's as smart as I think' he thought, interested to see the reaction of his sensei's first and only born. "Why don't you fill your friends in Naruto, since you obviously figured the whole thing out" he asked, trying to sound a polite as possible.

Naruto swallowed, and decided to play dumb "What sensei? Oh you mean that at least one persons going to be tied to the post." Kakashi sighed 'Maybe I was wrong…or was I?'

Sakura nodded and Sasuke rolled his eyes patronisingly "We know 'genius' its so obvious even an infant could figure that out" he said, laying on the sarcasm as thick as possible.

"Okay then. You know what to do. The test starts…now!" Kakashi said, waving his hand to signal them to move. All three disappeared as they quickly moved to hiding spots. Sasuke went in some nearby trees whilst Sakura hid under some bushes. Kakashi could easily tell where they all were 'Good, those two are using the cover well…what the! Where's the blonde one, Naruto' he thought, looking quickly in all directions to try to locate the missing kid.

The reason why Naruto was the first to move beyond his field of vision was all due to Naruto choosing a different hiding method, a slightly more unorthodox one at that. He had moved as fast as possible past the jounin towards the river, disengaging his chakra weights for a boost of speed. Running onto the water he moved as far down river as he thought necessary before allowing his body to slowly sink into the water. He could hold his breath for approximately seven minutes before needing to come up for air, so that gave him time to begin implementing his plan. He created two shadow clones, and signalled to them using sign language that they must go tell the others about the teamwork strategy, and dispel themselves to report to him if they accept or decline. In the meantime, he set to work on his little scheme.

**Elsewhere **

Clone 1 moved slowly through the bushes 'She must be around here somewhere…aha, there' and with that he slid down through some leaves to seat himself next to Sakura, who was still yet to notice his presence. 'And she calls herself a kunoichi', "Hey Sakura" he said, prodding the girl to get her attention. She yelped in surprise, but found her mouth covered with a hand. He turned her head to look him in the face, so she could see who he was. "I'm going to release you now so don't speak loudly unless you want to be found by sensei" she nodded in affirmation. He let go of her mouth and she inhaled deep by reflex.

"What is it Naruto, do you want us to get caught" she hissed under her breath.

The clone rolled his eyes, cut her off with his hand and began explaining to her his findings on the hidden meaning of the test. When he finished, she looked at him like he had grown a second head. "How did you figure that out before me?" she said, in all honesty that was all she could say. The way he explained it to her made it all so blindingly simple, and she kicked herself for not figuring it out sooner. 'How could I be so stupid…or is it just Naruto that's smarter' she thought, 'Out smarted by the dumbass, how the hell!' was all Inner Sakura could say on the matter

"Listen, I don't have the time. Are you going to work with me or aren't you?"

"We can't just go out on a hunch, even if you're sure. Lets wait for Sasuke to make the first move or something like that okay" Sakura finally said. In truth, she was afraid of moving and compromising her position. The clone shook its head, "Fine if that's the way you want to be" he said, and forming a seal allowed himself to dispel so the information would return to the original Naruto. Sakura could only gape between coughs as the small poof of smoke blew away with the wind. 'That was a bunshin?! How could it touch me, I felt it was real. Where did Naruto learn how to do that' she thought, before shaking her head and returning to the vigil of her watch.

Elsewhere, Clone 2 was looking for Sasuke, and managed to catch a whiff of his scent on the wind. '30 feet east north-east, need to be quite though because knowing Sasuke he'll attack thinking I'm Kakashi-sensei' the clone thought, and proceeded towards Sasuke's position as fast as the necessary stealth would allow.

He managed to appear next to Sasuke by using a tree opposite him as a springboard, allowing Naruto to flip through the air and land on the branch where the Uchiha was crouching and preparing a brace of projectiles to throw at Kakashi when the time was ripe. Sasuke automatically grabbed for a kunai and made a slashing motion towards the newcomer trying to cut open the their throat, only to have the kunai stopped by an arm, make that the clones arm (or more specifically the bracer on said arm). Sasuke's eyes widened momentarily at the shock, before shrinking into a glare.

"What's the big idea dobe, you almost gave away my position with that stunt!" he said under his breath, grabbing Naruto's jacket and pulling him close so he could continue "I don't know what crazy idea you've got, but I work alone. Period. So leave now" he said slowly.

The clone sucked on its cheek before nodding "Okay then, throw away your only chance at passing. But remember when you lose to that guy, that my way had a better chance at succeeding than yours." And with that said, the clone pushed away Sasuke's hands to release the grip, before dispelling itself and leaving the Uchiha seething with rage.

'That wasn't even the real Naruto. He sends a clone instead of meeting me in person, how dare he insult me like that. And to top it off, that was the same technique from before' he thought, the memory of his humiliation bubbling to the surface again. He forced it back into the recesses of his memory, and concentrated on what he was doing. He would show Naruto and that so-called jounin the superiority of the Uchiha. He would get the bell and stand triumphant, whilst he left the losers beneath him in the dirt, the fate of all those who stood against a genius.

**Back to Naruto **

Naruto sat on the water surface, smiling as he cupped some water in his hands and splashed his face. All the preparations for his plan were complete, now all he needed was the other actors to take their places on the stage. He felt the tingling in his head as Sakura and Sasuke's answers returned. He hung his head at his team mate's complete lack of sense. Sakura at least had the good grace to listen and consider his idea, but was still unsure with her skills and herself. But all she probably needed was some reassurance and help and she would be fine. Sasuke he wasn't surprised about, the arrogant idiot thought he could do it alone then fine let him try and fail.

Naruto then expanded his senses and began to search for Kakashi. The man was good, scratch that the man was a skilled genius at hiding himself, but then again he was a jounin. But where Kakashi had experience and skill, Naruto had his newly supercharged brains. So with that in mind, he began to search for Kakashi's unique chakra signature. It was an advanced level of chakra control he had learnt, and it used the theory of external chakra sources as its basis. The theory was that all things be they living or not carried energy within themselves. Whether it was chakra, chi, ki or any other energy, if it was there it could be detected. This is where this particular technique came into play.

Its training was said to be extremely complicated, involving stretching out the subconscious so your chakra can make contact with the others sources, resulting in a sort of sixth sense. Most jounin's were able to do it, and chuunin's to some degree. That is how they are able to distinguish one chakra from another. But for some reason it came naturally to Naruto possibly because of the Shinzui Hashi giving him a greater command of his spiritual self.

He remembered when he used 'chakra sense' as he dubbed it for the first time. He had started to meditate and bleed his chakra into his surroundings. He found this sort of pressure from all around him, and when he focused on it and allowed the pressure to flow within him the whole world changed before his eyes. In his minds eye everything seemed to adopt a different hue, the earth was a vibrant green, the sky an ethereal white, the water in his koi pond a deep blue. He pushed this newfound sense to its boundaries, and before he knew it he was sensing the chakra's of every life within 200 yards of him, a very humbling experience for him indeed.

Up until then he never truly knew how many insects or small life forms there were, millions of small lives going about their business. He had learnt how to control this sense in the evenings over a period of six days, when he wasn't reading or training or sleeping, etc, and could now push his level of circumference out to nearly a half a mile without encountering any strain on his mind. As well as it became easier pinpointing individual signatures, he practised this by focusing on a single ant as it moved. The only downside to this newfound sense was that he needed almost perfect silence and calm, and he could not move whilst using it.

Now when it came to tracking down Kakashi, Naruto hit a stumbling block. The jounin was suppressing and masking his chakra to minimal levels, so finding him himself was nigh impossible even with Naruto's practised skill. So instead he focussed on the traces left behind where Kakashi had been in the immediate area. Like ripples in a pond when a stone is thrown at its surface, when a person's chakra comes into contact with another, in this case the chakra found in the earth beneath them a small minute amount of residue is left behind. Finding this residue was like finding the proverbial needle in a haystack, and it took a while for Naruto to find the start of the trail. He eventually found the jounin, and was quite alarmed when he found that he was moving in his direction down the river.

Opening his eyes, Naruto found himself staring straight at the face of a smiling Kakashi. "You had me for a second, moving into the water to mask your trail, but in your haste to get to the river you left a small mark in the earth at the rivers edge. Sloppy by jounin standards but admirable none the less. Also, those shadow clones you created were wet so that was a further giveaway. This water walking is an advanced form of chakra control, and just a minute ago you were you trying to sense my chakra signature…that's a chuunin level skill at the minimum. How did you learn to do that?" the lanky man said, peering close at the boy.

Naruto gulped, then remembered that he wasn't moving. He needed Kakashi to follow him, 'That's it' he thought. With a gulp of air he dropped into the water and swam as fast as he could upriver, letting chakra flow into his limbs to give him a boost of speed. Moving through the water with the grace of a fish, Naruto burst to the surface and flipped onto the edge of the river.

"It would have been wiser to run on the surface of the water. You would have been faster. Still, you were pretty quick swimming too" came a voice from nearby. Naruto turned and saw Kakashi leaning against a tree, reading a book of all things. Naruto would have been shocked or angry if he hadn't planned for this, or meant for it to happen. Kakashi at least had the decency to raise an eyebrow. 'What is he planning' he thought warily. He knew that the boy had attempted to tell his team mates about the true nature of the exam, and had been giddy inside when his hunch about the genin proved to be true.

It had a wonderful sense of irony that the ninja considered to be the dead last of this years Academy crop was the first to figure out the bell tests hidden meaning in all the time Kakashi had been using it. For five years he had been taking on teams of would-be ninja who couldn't work together to get out of a paper bag. Five years, and now someone had finally got it. And not only that, but also this same 'genin' was able to walk on water and sense the chakra of others with the ease of a master. 'Looks like there's one more prodigy than we thought, and a late bloomer at that' he was really starting to enjoy the prospect of teaching these children.

Then he remembered something, the others. He couldn't pass them just because one of them had managed to crack a tests meaning, there were still the others. He sighed, maybe this wouldn't be as great as he had hoped. Then again, he could have fun with Naruto. Maybe even go so far as to take out his sharingan...no, the kid seemed to be good but not that good.

Naruto meanwhile, was psyching himself up for what he was about to do. Now enough with the preparations, it was time to turn some heads. 'Show time' he thought, and slowly reached into the shurikan holster on his thigh. Then with a flurry of movement, three shurikan were hurling towards Kakashi. He reacted by throwing one of his own shurikan to deflect the third, and catching the others. Or he would have if they poofed to reveal two Kage bunshin coming towards him. They impacted with a sickening crunch, one punching his jaw the other planting the knee into his midriff. He quickly took care of them with his superior strength. Naruto used this time to close the gap between them, sliding himself into a now practiced and familiar taijutsu stance, altered only slightly to decrease the attack efficiency of the opening move he had planned.

'Keep him occupied with a frontal assault for a couple of minutes' he thought, a with a quick jumping motion, his muscles shifting in perfect symmetry, Naruto flew forward into a flying kick. He remembered to keep the muscles in his legs rigid but not enough to eliminate the option of movement if a counter were to be made against it. Lee had taught him this technique as payment for Naruto 'finding' him a scroll on a particular kekkai genkai found in Konoha. Naruto had wondered why Lee wanted to learn about the Byakugan, but at the time he was just happy to help his friend.

'That actually hurt...' Kakashi thought rubbing his jaw '...wait that's Gai's taijutsu' and his theory was proved when Naruto cried out "Dainamikku-Entori". Naruto's foot impacted with the tree as Kakashi dodged the kick with a simple chest pivot. Using the momentum to push away, he swung his other leg in a mid-air roundhouse kick to try to hit the mark. Kakashi caught the leg and spun in a circle to throw Naruto away. Kakashi's eyes narrowed, for a kid who was so short he seemed to be very heavy. Was he wearing weights…maybe? He did seem to be full of surprises.

The blonde nimbly somersaulted to land on his feet, before bringing his hands into a cross seal. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu" and with that Kakashi found himself staring at 17 clones, which charged towards him shouting individual battle cries. The one-eyed jounin slumped his shoulders 'He uses a little known low rank taijutsu attack then follows up with an amateur charge, this kid is sending mixed signals here'

The real Naruto however was not attacking with the clones. He was busy hiding underground with a very handy earth jutsu called Doton! Dochu Eigyo no Jutsu. This jutsu involved encasing the body in chakra, completely in chakra so that the user can hide underground for a near indefinite length of time. The trick was manipulating the chakra to give it a malleable quality, so as to allow it to spread amongst the earth molecules around them. Then you keep the chakra and earth circulating in a clockwise direction for as long as you keep the jutsu in effect. Surprisingly complex when compared to its cousin the Doton! Shinju Zanshu no Jutsu, and unlike its cousin which was only able to move into earth, a ninja using Dochu Eigyo could move in and out of tree's rocks and most other solid substances with the exception of metal. Naruto could only keep it up for a total of twenty minutes solid. But he wasn't going to be hiding underground for long.

Swiftly moving amongst the earth, Naruto manoeuvred himself to be beneath Kakashi, there were only 8 clones left, wait, make that 7 clones. Waiting for the opportune moment, Naruto brought his hands up through the earth and grasped Kakashi by calves. Kakashi and the clones looked down, but whilst the jounin looked in alarm, the clones took it as a silent signal. They all knew the plan and what needed to be done, their purpose was a smokescreen, both literally and metaphorically. They each took a jump backwards and formed a circle around Kakashi. Their hands moved in perfect symmetry through some hand seals before ending in the dreaded tora seal. Each took a deep breath, arching their back slightly.

From their respective vantage points, Sakura and Sasuke watched and reacted in mixed ways. Both were equally surprised by Naruto's sudden appearance from out of the river, and then by the blondes attack on Kakashi brief as it was, but it still was very well executed. And now the seven of him seemed to be using of all things a fire jutsu, did Naruto want to kill the man. Sasuke, was intrigued most of all to learn that the dobe knew a fire jutsu, they being the speciality of his clan. But what really left them gaping was that instead of fire, the clones each breathed out a belch of thick black smoke instead of fire.

'I…don't know this jutsu' thought Sasuke, whose mind began trawling through the long list of fire jutsu he had stored away on scrolls at his apartment, the only real remnants of his clan's long history. No, a smoke jutsu was definitely not listed among those his clan knew.

Kakashi covered his face to avoid the smoke, so that it wouldn't get in his one uncovered eye. 'These were all just clones, the real Naruto's beneath me. That's my trick' he thought, the scolded himself for thinking childishly. His thoughts were interrupted when he felt a strong punch slam into his solar plexus. Like the first bite of a shark as it strikes its prey, it rattled his bones with surprising force and despite himself Kakashi grunted in pain and the breath forced itself out of his lungs.

Naruto didn't stop with the single hit, no this guy was going home black and blue. The smoke obscured his eyes slightly, but he found by allowing a minute amount of chakra to flow into his eyes via the chakra pathways in his head his already good vision became three times as potent and it was like the smoke wasn't there at all.

Closing his eyes briefly, he entered his unofficially dubbed 'taijutsu mode'. This was so called after his third or so training session with Lee, he found himself forming a linear frame of mind whenever he was attacking using primarily taijutsu. His entire mind was bent on a single aim at the time, which was usually breaking a training post into splinters. But this was the real thing, training being used for real life, a post replaced by a human being. Somewhere, in the dark recesses of his mind Naruto could swear he could here a small voice asking him what it would be like to break the mans ribs and rupture his organs, but Naruto buried the voice with big mental rocks. In his minds eye, Naruto replayed all of training he had done with his first taijutsu style, both with his good friend Lee and by himself at 'Earth meets Sky'.

'Wing Chun is a taijutsu style that uses small hits with minimum effort to overpower the opponent. Focusing on attacking your opponent via their centre line, throat, eyes, nose, solar plexus and groin. Attack these area's whilst guarding your own centreline. Maintain relaxation of muscles else energy will be wasted. Probe the holes in the opponents defences, stick to them. A Wing Chun practitioner is like bamboo, firm but flexible, rooted but yielding' he thought. The concepts and idea's played through his subconscious in the entire two seconds that he had his eyes closed.

When he opened them, it was like a second image had superimposed over Kakashi, a black human shape with several bright dots on it that signified vital spots that could be hit. The ones that stood out the most were on the centre line of Kakashi's body; those were the ones he would home in on, so that none of the force of his strikes would be dispersed by the recipient of said blows moving away or reeling from the hits.

By his calculations, Naruto surmised that he had approximately 36 seconds before surprise wears away, and another 30 before he would start tying to fight back, which made just over a minute. The cloud of dense smoke would last for at least thirty more seconds, considering the seven clones that made it. So, with a deep intake of breath that was soft and slow enough to avoid giving away his presence, Naruto attacked again. All of this thought and monologue took barely a couple of seconds.

Three solid punches to the gut, a knife jab to the throat and a palm strike to the nose. A knee jab to the groin (but only the once, Naruto wanted the dude to feel some hurt, but the groin was a sacred area for a guy) followed by a seven chakra improved hits to the solar plexus again. Kakashi would raise his arms to block by reflex, only to find his arms moved aside by well-placed counter strikes.

Kakashi by now was clutching his surprisingly beaten chest, and was for all intents and purposes pissed off. This kid was actually beating him down, and he was fighting the incredible urge to reveal his sharingan and return the favour with interest. Then a wicked thought crossed his mind. With experienced ease he substituted himself with a clone from outside the smokescreen. He had to admire the brilliance of the boys plan, as he watched the smoke slowly dissipate, he wondered how long it would take for Naruto to figure out that he wasn't beating him up but one of his clones. Minutes past, but instead of seeing two Naruto's going at it like he expected, all he saw was a single Naruto standing with his arms crossed.

"Nice Kawarimi there sensei, shame I'd already thought up a counter for it in my strategy. I sensed the change immediately, and determined through careful thought where you would be standing. And now I have you right where I want you" Naruto said slowly, in all true seriousness.

"Aren't you getting a little ahead of yourself Naruto, you are still a genin. Those were some interesting jutsu you used there, but you wasted your advantage of surprise on hitting me instead of getting the bells" Kakashi taunted.

Naruto stood and contemplated this, the looked up and smiled. What the man didn't know, was that he did have the bells, he had secured them after the knee to the groin and replaced them with two small pebbles bound with string under a henge to look like bells. He had accomplished the goal of the exercise, now it was just some fun. He knew he shouldn't show off as it would break his cover with his team mates, but after careful consideration he thought that to heck with a little too much secrecy.

He wanted to put them in their place and show them just how much he had grown, not showing all of his skill mind you or revealing how he obtained it, but enough to make them see he was no longer the baka they looked down on at the Academy. "You're the one who's getting ahead of himself sensei. Look at your feet and see…" the jounin did, and swore when he saw that his legs were bound with a thick ropes. Naruto just smiled his carefree smile and shouted "NOW!"

The ground beneath Kakashi drained inwards, revealing that he had been standing on the brittle coverings of a tiger pit. 'But I didn't fall in' Kakashi thought, and then he felt the tugging sensation. He cried out in surprise when he was pulled underground by the ropes binding his feet. When he hit the bottom of the pit, he saw that it was roughly nine feet deep, and the rear wall was lined with sharpened stakes of wood. 'Again amateur mistakes, he should have placed them on the bottom, I might have been impaled then' but then a sound greeted his ears. Rushing water.

His eye followed where the sound came from, and saw to his horror a tunnel that led straight to the river. And the rope ran through it, which meant that whatever pulled him down here was at the end of the tunnel, corking it from the river water so that…crap. Those were the only syllables to leave his lips when a plume of rushing river water from out of the tunnel hit him. As fast as he could he cut the ropes, replaced himself with a log and leapt from the pit into the air. He scanned the immediate area and swore under his breath, Naruto had vanished.

He walked over to the river, and upon peering into the water saw exactly what he had suspected would be there. At the bottom of the river was a large rock with a thick length of rope tied around it. That was what had been plugging up the tunnel leading to the pit, Naruto must have had his clones move the rock at his signal…at least he thought that had been the real Naruto, it could have been another clone. It really was brilliant, the rock pulls the unwary foe underground into the trap and uncorks the tunnel. The rope is just the right length so that the person trapped in the pit doesn't get their legs torn off by the pulling. River water flows down the tunnel and the pressure hitting them forces them onto the stakes and its all over. Excellent use of the terrain.

'Ingenious trap. That's one they don't teach at the Academy, at least not the Academy I remember. I wonder where he is learning all of this. Curious, very curious. And to make it in such a short space of time without my knowing, even more curious. Now where is that little SOB, I have half a mind to shove a Raikiri where the sun doesn't shine. Oh well, I can still have fun with the others, now where is Sakura' he thought.

Then, his attention was caught when he saw a barrage of projectiles flying his way. 'That would be Sasuke, not bad but its expected of him' he thought, and decided a substitution would be best.

Sasuke watched from his branch. Naruto's performance against Kakashi had set his teeth on edge. He had shown skilful use of taijutsu, tactics and traps to snare the jounin, and with such seeming ease as well. But what really set the Uchiha off was the fire jutsu he had used; it ended with the tora seal so it had to be a fire jutsu. But that was still impossible in itself; because there was no fire jutsu the Uchiha clan did not know about or have complete mastery of. They were the lords of the element, the elite shinobi of Hi no Kuni.

The thought of a jutsu that was out of their reach was both maddening and an insult. He would show that dobe, he would get a bell all by himself and prove who is the greater shinobi. He watched his kunai and shurikan barrage sail through the air and impact at several vital spots on Kakashi's body, but snarled when he saw the lanky jounin poof to reveal a large log. Now his position was compromised, he would have to relocate and plan his next move.

**Elsewhere **

Naruto chuckled to himself. He hated to admit it, but that was a lot of fun. It felt so good to cut loose and beat the crap out of something, to make, set and up and fulfil a plan. It satisfied his inner prankster greatly, and the payload was sweet too. The man hadn't noticed the replacement of the bells, and now all Naruto needed to do was find the others and the test was over. He was looking for Sakura first; he wanted to give Sasuke time to cool a little.

Using the Katon! Enmaku jutsu would have probably ticked him off considerably, as Enmaku was a fire jutsu that Naruto had only found by chance. He had stumbled upon it whilst searching for some jutsu to learn amongst 'The Vault', and it had turned out to be a very fortuitous event. Because Enmaku created smoke instead of a blazing conflagration, it had been lost in time amongst all of the destructive techniques associated with Katon jutsu's, passed off as a useful distraction with no useful combat merits what so ever.

He heard a rustling amongst the bushes, and upon investigation found Sakura in a heap on the floor convulsing slightly with foam from her mouth. 'Sensei must have used a genjutsu on her...guess I gotta help her, we are team mates after all. Plus its the nice thing to do' he thought, and after doing a seal and gathering a small amount of chakra into his right hand tapped Sakura once hard on the shoulder to dispel the genjutsu.

Genjutsu Kai, another technique from his new repertoire. When he saw her breathing steady, he took one of the bells and placed it in the palm of her hand and closed her fingers around it. He smiled at seeing her sleep, it was a shame she wasn't serene like it more often. She was cuter then than when angry, but those thoughts were squashed quickly. His obsession with Sakura was a thing of the past. Now he needed to find Sasuke, which would be fun.

**Somewhere Else**

Sasuke roared as he attacked Kakashi with full, deadly force. He sent a kunai to drive the man towards his trap, but the jounin saw through this and avoided the second volley of kunai, which impacted on a nearby tree. With that attack done, Sasuke quickly formulated a series of moves that would guarantee him getting those bells. That would show Naruto up; oh he would enjoy rubbing his victory in the blonde's pathetic face.

As the jounin skidded along the ground to avoid the trap, Sasuke leapt forwards to launch a sweeping roundhouse kick to his head. This strike was blocked by Kakashi's left arm, and the limb was held in place by the right. Using that hold as a fulcrum, Sasuke moved to punch Kakashi, again in the head. But once again his fist was caught, by the left hand that had been guarding against the kick. So with those limbs held, Sasuke swept his remaining leg in an arc, his aim for the third time being the head. The moves turned in upside down, suspended as he was by Kakashi himself. And as the jounin moved his left arm from a vertical position to a horizontal, once again the hit was stopped before it could be made.

But that was all part of the plan. Now, Sasuke was mere inches away from his prize, and as he moved his free hand to grab the bells Kakashi was forced to let go of the boy and jump back to avoid the manoeuvre. 'Not bad, as expected of an Uchiha. But what else does he have up his sleeve' Kakashi thought.

'Dammit, he saw through the deception. Just how skilled is this shinobi' Sasuke thought in irritance.

"You're different to the others…well maybe Sakura at least. Naruto's attempt was a little more…inventive compared to yours, but then again you probably saw that didn't you Sasuke" Kakashi said in a chiding tone of voice. If that didn't rile the Uchiha, nothing would.

Sasuke growled, taking the bait hook line and sinker. 'If he thinks I'm going to lose to that dobe, then he's dead wrong…' the Uchiha thought, and with a quick flash of seals he had his last move. Kakashi gasped, he knew those seals, and a jutsu of that level was supposed to be above Academy students. It used too much chakra, how could Sasuke perform it without collapsing.

A great, roaring gout of fire erupted from Sasuke's mouth, hurtling towards Kakashi with breakneck speed. Before the jounin could react, he was caught by the blaze and seemingly incinerated. 'That'll show him. Katon! Gokakyu no Jutsu, and Uchiha specialty…wait. Where is he?' Sasuke thought, his emotions changing from smugness to shock as the smoke revealed no charred corpse.

"I'm beneath you Sasuke-kun" came a sing song voice from beneath his feet. Sasuke could only look down, as a pair of hands erupted from the earth and grabbed him by the ankles. The Uchiha survivor could only curse as he was quickly pulled underground. All that was left free was his head, which glared in anger at the lanky jounin before him.

Kakashi bent down and patted Sasuke on the head. "That was ninjutsu, and whilst that fire jutsu you used was impressive you failed to anticipate anything else. You were so sure it would work and you would win your next step was not planned in the slightest. Wouldn't you say so Naruto?" he turned and asked the bushes to the side of him. Sasuke turned his head as far as he could, what with his neck half buried in the earth, and his eyes bugged when he saw Naruto emerge from the undergrowth. How long had the dobe been there? What had he seen? The questions spun in his mind like annoying little flies, and he found himself wriggling more and more, his anger fuelling his energy.

"Seriously Sasuke, good idea with the Katon! Gokakyu but lame follow through. You forgot that Kakashi-sensei is a jounin and therefore knows more techniques than you. But it was pretty funny seeing you get pulled underground like that, you should have seen the look on your face..." Naruto did an impression of an angry and surprised Sasuke, waving his hands around above his head. Despite himself, Kakashi found himself snickering, but then remembered that he owed Naruto some humiliation. Lets see how Naruto liked getting pulled underground.

"Are you going to try to get the bells again Naruto. Second time around should be better right?" he taunted, hoping to coax the boy into making a sloppy move. He watched as Naruto slowly walked into the open and took a high, narrow stance with the elbows kept close to the body. Within the stance, his arms were positioned across the vitals of his centreline. 'Ah I get it now, he's a practitioner of Wing Chun style taijutsu' thought Kakashi, who took Naruto's stance as a silent challenge to attack.

In an instant he was on the boy, attacking first with a punch for Naruto's arm. He needed to disable his arms first, then he would have no defence. But every time he punched, Naruto stood still, countered with one arm whilst jabbing underneath his guard. A light blow, but still a hit. Even when he kicked, Naruto brought his arm down quickly with no wasted energy in the motion whatsoever, but eventually as he upped the anti and increased the speed of his movements Kakashi began to win against Naruto. He scored one hammer blow to Naruto's shoulder which left it hanging to the side dislocated, before slamming his fist into the boys gut winding him. Naruto wheezed as the oxygen left his lungs, but Kakashi didn't let up there. Grapping Naruto's collar and shifting the weight of the boy onto his shoulders, Kakashi threw him into the air with a hard shoulder throw.

Naruto was flung in the direction of Sasuke, hitting the earth hard with a loud thudding noise. Coughing up some phlegm and a little blood, Naruto heaved himself to his feet. "Are you crazy, you could have killed me with that last punch I'm lucky to have no broken ribs" he shouted to the lazy eyed jounin.

"You set the bar pretty high earlier, I was just raising it a little more higher that's all. I thought you would be able to handle it, but it seems your just talk after all" the jounin replied nonchalantly.

Naruto gritted his teeth. If there was anything that pissed him off more, it was that air of superiority that all 'genius' ninja had. Sasuke introduced him to it, he saw it in those Hyuga bastards (don't ask, a prank gone slightly awry no more shall be said on it) and now he saw it in his sensei. Anger quickly boiled in Naruto robbing him of his reason and dulling his newly keen intellect. He would wipe that obvious smirk of the lanky bastards face and show him just what sort of person he was dealing with.

Drawing out a single shurikan from his holster, Naruto closed his eyes and focused his chakra into the shurikan. Flinging it into the air with a flick of the wrist, he let his hands flow into the seals necessary for the jutsu he had in mind. His face contorted into a near feral grin, and as the seals neared completion he called out to his foe. "Hey sensei, you want to set the bar lets see you top this..." he caught the shurikan with his hand and threw it as hard as he could at his teacher, ending the jutsu with a very familiar cross style seal "...Shurikan Kage Bunshin no Jutsu"

'There's no way he could do that jutsu...' Kakashi thought '...true he can perform the Kage Bunshin, but applying its concept to inanimate objects for the Shurikan Kage Bunshin is far beyond that'.

The jounin could do naught but question the possibility, but he received his answer in the form of a great cloud of shurikan hurtling towards him. With a panicked look of disbelief when he watched the single shurikan multiply into a swarm of over a hundred. He barely had the time to substitute himself with another of his trusty logs, so little time in fact that he was actually physically hit by seven of the bloody things. He crouched low on the tree branch were he sent himself, and decided to watch the reactions of the pair. Naruto when he saw the log swore loudly, Sasuke however was too busy looking from Naruto to the area of woodland riddled with shurikan and back again.

'The only shinobi I know too have mastered that jutsu are myself, the Sandaime and Ryu-san, and I only copied it with my sharingan years ago. Where did Naruto learn it, its not something that's taught openly' Kakashi thought darkly, he would have to bring this up with the Hokage. He had already set his mind on doing just that the moment that smoke enveloped him, but this made it all the more important.

Naruto cursed again and kicked the turf, but then remembered himself and took five calming breaths. The anger left him, and he felt himself becoming calmer, his rationality returning to him. He sighed out loud, berating himself for his lack of control. Now Kakashi knew about his first little trump card, and if he was any judge of the mans character Naruto knew he would be hounded until he got answers. Ah well, he would deal with that when it came. First he had another little trivial item to deal with. Crouching in front of Sasuke, Naruto looked the boy in the eyes.

"Don't bother asking any questions right now because your not going to get any answers. I'm just here to lend a hand, and don't bother refusing because right now your not in the best of positions to say those sort of things. Now, lets get you out of there..." and with that said Naruto performed the seals necessary for Dochu Eigyo. Sasuke watched as he sunk into the ground slowly, merging with the earth like he had always been a part of it. When Naruto's head disappeared, he began to hear scratching sounds around him, and slowly little by little the soil around loosen. Naruto rose from the ground a minute later.

"I've loosened the soil around your limbs, you should be able to lift them out with a little effort" Naruto said, and placed a small object close to Sasuke's face. When Sasuke focused on it, his resolve to pull himself free tripled, and with an almighty heave he pulled free his left arm. Another heave and he had the other arm and the top half of his torso loose, and from there his lower torso, waist and legs. He quickly picked up and inspected the object, it was a bell. Frantically he looked back and forth for Naruto, but the blonde had since left the clearing. He heard a noise from the bushes, and to his surprise Sakura emerged from between the trees. Her eyes widened when she saw the metal ridden trees, she turned to Sasuke and asked the silent question.

"It was Naruto" Sasuke replied with a small nod. He noticed the bell held in Sakura's hand, "You got a bell too" he asked.

"Yeah, I think Kakashi-sensei got me with a genjutsu. I saw this images of everyone I knew dead, my parents, everyone. Then I felt this pulsing sensation, and I woke up. When I did I found this bell in my hand. How did you get yours?" she said to him.

"Naruto helped me from...never mind. I got it from the dobe, that's all. I don't know how he got it though" the stoic Uchiha replied.

Meanwhile, Kakashi was crouching low with a dumbstruck look on his face. Pulling the bells from their place on his hip, he looked at them hard. 'A henge, the little...' he thought, as the 'bells' poofed in a small cloud of smoke revealing two pebbles tied with string. 'When did he...' and then his mind replayed a small bump he felt where the bells were, when he was being assaulted by Naruto in the thick cloud of smoke created by Naruto's clones. It must have been then that the switch had been made. It did please him though to watch the blonde help his supposed rival from out of the ground, and then realise that instead of keeping the bells for himself Naruto had got them for his team mates. Of course, now it was all clear. So that was the boys plan...very clever. It would be amusing to watch the others reactions to this, 'Time should be up right about...' he heard a distinct ringing in the near distance '...now. Lets go see how they're doing' he thought, and left for the stumps and clock.

**Elsewhere **

Naruto leant against the post by the alarm clock, and listened patiently as the alarm rung its course. He looked out as Kakashi, Sasuke and Sakura returned. Kakashi was the slower of the three, taking his time to build up the dramatic tension. Both Sasuke and Sakura both knew what was going to happen, and they couldn't help but feel ashamed for themselves. Naruto had approached them earlier and proposed teamwork to get the bells, and they might have succeeded. But they had both refused for different reasons, so Naruto had taken it upon himself to get the bells for them. For Sakura it was the image of a confident Naruto attacking and actually winning against Kakashi with some clever traps and an amazing ninjutsu. In Sasuke, it was the image of Naruto getting the crap being beaten out of him, coughing up blood. Naruto had fought for them, he had bled for them. And that all could have been avoided if they had ignored the stubborn voices in their heads.

They both looked at Naruto, who as if psychically sensing their anxiety just smiled nonchalantly and said "Well at least I ate breakfast", which earn't a massive face fault from the two of them.

"Naruto, do you have a bell?" Kakashi asked, his voice containing a dangerous crazy edge to it. For Kakashi, it was the humiliating pain of his groin being pummelled into numbness with a single blow. Revenge for this man was sweet.

Naruto simply looked at his sensei, smiled and replied "Nope, but my team mates have a bell each so I'm happy"

Sakura looked at her feet. 'He could have kept a bell for himself, so why give them to us. Why give up his only chance at becoming a genin for us' she thought, then was very surprised to see Sasuke of all people lifting up his hand with the bell in it.

"Take my bell baka. I wont have you be a martyr like this" he said in his usual calm voice.

"This is the only way you'll learn. Keep it" was the unusually curt reply from Naruto, who stood stock still not moving as Kakashi tied him firmly to the post. Sasuke glared at him 'Learn!? Why you...' he thought, before charging at the blonde in anger with his fist drawn back. Lets see him avoid this with his oh so great skills were the thoughts going through the prodigies head. But after a sudden shift in his centre of gravity, Sasuke found himself face first in the dirt, unable to move as Kakashi held him tight.

"Obviously Sasuke you are still unable to pick up the subtle hints that Naruto has been throwing your way this morning. From the moment I announced this test he tried to convince the both of you to its true meaning. And what is that meaning? It's teamwork. Teamwork was the key to this test, this exercise. He saw it but you in your arrogance ignored the wisdom in his words. And when he saw that any teamwork between you would be impossible, he took it upon himself to do the job for you. He sacrificed himself for the good of you, his team mates. Do you understand this? Can you comprehend his sacrifice in the slightest? Can you?" Kakashi said with anger in his voice, personal memories of Obito's sacrifice going through his mind bringing up fresh feelings of sadness.

There was this long silence, and then Sakura spoke up. "I do understand sensei..." she said, moving quickly to Naruto's side "...which is why you're going to have to tie me up too. I am returning to you the bell that I did not earn. If Naruto fails by your standards, then I shall join him as a failure." Her voice was filled with iron conviction, and Kakashi felt himself smile. They were finally getting it.

Sasuke said nothing, but when Kakashi let him up he slowly walked towards Naruto and took a position opposite to Sakura. He nodded, silently agreeing with Sakura.

Then Kakashi did something very unexpected. He laughed. For a good few minutes he laughed. When he finally stopped, he smiled at them, his visible eye creating its upside-down U of an eye smile. "Well its a good thing you all pass then"

"What" they all said together.

"You. All. Pass" Kakashi worded slowly. "Tomorrow Team 7 will begin its REAL genin duties"

Wonder broke to joy as Naruto smiled. "YES!" he shouted out loud. Sakura laughed with him and even Sasuke smiled briefly. Kakashi untied Naruto and whispered into his ear "You planned this didn't you"

"From the word go, even before the others refused this was my back up strategy. But don't tell the others" Naruto whispered back.

Kakashi smiled 'you truly are a unique person Naruto Uzumaki. Teaching you will be most interesting' he thought, and proceeded to give his now official students their instructions for tomorrow. They were to meet at the Hokage's office to receive their mission assignments. Watching his students depart, Kakashi smiled and looked at the memorial to the rear of the training posts. 'Yes, this truly shall be interesting'

**Author Notes**

Another chapter up and done. Starting to get quicker on the updates since there was less…lacking…where the later chapters were concerned. Alter some dialogue, split up larger paragraphs so they are easier to read, that sort of thing. As I write this it is 26 minutes past 12 in the morning, on Saturday the 19th of January, just to keep time. As you can see, not much changed about this chapter, just stuck the Academy and Bell test together and added some filler. I actually wrote in the fight between Kakashi and Sasuke this time, when I originally posted the chapter I couldn't be bothered writing it, but now I have so it's done.

Any who, moving on now. Not that long till all the updating is over, and the new chapters can role on. Got a firm plan in my mind, I know what to fix…its all good. See Ya.

**Doton! Dochu Eigyo no Jutsu** – Earth Style! Underground Projection Fish

**Doton! Shinju Zanshu no Jutsu** - Earth Style! Inner Earth Decapitation

**Genjutsu Kai** – Genjutsu Release

**Katon! Enmaku no Jutsu** – Fire Style! Smokescreen

**Katon! Gokakyu no Jutsu** – Fire style! Great Fireball

**Raikiri** – Lightning Blade

**Kawarimi no Jutsu** – Substitution technique

**Fuusaishuu** – Wind Gathering

**Shurikan Kage Bunshin no Jutsu** – Shurikan Shadow Clone technique

**Tonsou no Jutsu** – Escape technique

**Dainamikku-Entori** – Dynamic Entry


	6. Chapter 5: The Joy of the D rank

**Naruto Legacy of the Hokages**

**By Lysander45**

**Disclaimer:** I do not and never will own Naruto, no matter how much I want too. Any and all characters, jutsu and places that I create are mine; if you want to use them please ask permission.

" Speech

' Thoughts

() Jutsu translations/authors voice/usual use for brackets that I cannot be bothered to describe

Spirit voice

Italic memories/writing

Bold emphasis on word

… Pause during speech

**Chapter 5 – The joy of the D-Rank**

And so it had begun for our three new genin, Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke as they began their new lives as ninja. When Kakashi told them that they had passed his test and where officially genin they were over the moon, and could only imagine what adventures lay before them. Their current situation however was not what they expected at all.

"Sorry 'bout all this. It's just my cute little Pu-chan has this terrible stomach problem, and I'm not strong enough to clean up his messes anymore" apologised the old woman who had made the request. They were currently on a D-rank mission to clean up some mounds of dirt for an old lady, and their sensei had left them prior to arriving saying he 'left the oven on somewhere'. The trio looked with building horror at the vast mounds of 'dirt' before them, and the 'cute little' dog that made then, a five foot tall St Bernard that just looked back at them and barked. All three hung their heads in disbelief as they set about the task required of them.

After 3 hours of shovelling what can only be described as processed canned food, all of them collapsed onto the ground. They had been doing these menial tasks called D-rank missions for over two weeks, and already they were sick of them. Officially dubbed by Naruto during their second as 'the crappy missions' they had become the dog's bodies of the lazy village populace. Anyone who had some spare change and fancied a day off would simply pay for a team of genin to do the work for them; it was a village tradition of sorts. Even though he had been expecting these sorts of things from his conversations with Lee, Naruto was still blown away by the 'missions' they were assigned to do. These so called 'missions' consisted of tasks such as baby sitting a daimyo's kids, walking some dogs (but Naruto again knew this from Lee), tidying a garden of weeds, collecting herbs in the woods, 'guarding' a scroll containing a recipe for spicy miso paste, you get the idea.

What Naruto did, discreetly to avoid further suspicion from his already wary teammates was to treat each task as a form of training. Using it as an opportunity to hone one skill or another. For example, whilst weeding a woman's garden, he hit upon the idea of using his chakra to pull the weed from the ground by placing a thin barrier of chakra between the weed's roots and the earth before pulling the weed up. This made them more time consuming, and whilst his teammates obliviously scolded him for being a lazy worker Naruto steadily honed his abilities.

Usually they did one or two missions a day, every third day. The time in between was spent training together or individually with Kakashi, who was trying his hardest to teach them to fit together more as a team. After his performance during the bell test, Sakura had started slowly warming up to Naruto and getting on with him better. Ever since he had stopped craving her attention and proclaiming his love for her at every given moment, she found she was able to look beneath the energy and exuberance and see that actually Naruto was a nice guy, if a little spirited. They had even once gone for lunch together, Naruto showing her the owners of the Ichiraku ramen stand.

Sasuke in comparison was completely the opposite. His animosity towards Naruto had grown, his entire world upset by the concept of someone being better than him. He had tried to challenge the blonde once after they had finished training, but Naruto had shrugged it all off saying he was 'tired and going to go sleep'. This irked the Uchiha to no end, who after then had taken it upon himself to find out just how Naruto got so strong. This led to him following Naruto during his spare time, but every time the blonde had cottoned on to his would-be stalker and had a clone lead him astray.

**Elsewhere, at the Hokage Building **

"So Kakashi, how is your new team doing? I'm surprised you passed them considering your strict criteria. Oh, that reminds me, I am sorry that I haven't been able to talk but this past month has been surprisingly busy. We are receiving more missions from the Kaze no Kuni as of late," the older man said.

"That's alright Hokage-sama, but it is a matter of urgency that we speak. It's about a certain 'special' genin I just took under my wing"

Sarutobi arched his eyebrow in question, but got straight away Kakashi's hidden meaning. "Ah…Kotetsu, I'm taking a half hour break, can you handle the work while I am away" he asked his chuunin adjutant.

The chuunin nodded and set back to work. Stamping and filing away mission requests into their individual categories, silently wondering why he was always stuck with 'secretary duty'. The Sandaime slowly got up from his chair and motioned for Kakashi to follow. They walked through the building until they got to the Hokage's office.

Sarutobi sat in his chair with an almighty sigh, before taking out his pipe and filling it ready to smoke. "I suppose by now you have learnt that Naruto is no ordinary genin," he said, lighting the pipe with a match from his desk drawer.

Kakashi looked surprised that the Hokage had anticipated his question so accurately, but quickly composed himself. "Indeed…" he answered before proceeding to tell his leader exactly what had occurred during the bell test, right down to the jutsu Naruto used.

Sarutobi's face looked grim, "You say he used the Shurikan Kage Bunshin, creating 108 shurikan using the technique…" he looked out to the Hokage memorial at the faces of his forebears "…I am sorry Kakashi, but right now I am not at liberty to disclose information on Naruto, because the information you seek is both top secret and highly personal for the boy. If you are curious, it would be easier to simply ask him yourself, it is up to him who he tells the truth to. As for how he learned those jutsu, even I don't know the truth behind that."

Kakashi sighed, he had hoped on getting some sort of insight, but was left with more questions. He knew the boy up until his fight with Mizuki had been nothing short of a dropout, a third-rate ninja with no defining skills what so ever. Yet in the space of a month since that said encounter and his graduation from the Academy he had improved exponentially at a highly accelerated rate from graduate level to that of an advanced genin bordering on chuunin. Nobody could to that in a month, it wasn't humanly possible. He thanked the Hokage, pausing only to ask for directions to Naruto's home before leaving.

He arrived at a small apartment block in the cheap area of the town, but found the address he had been given to be empty. When he enquired to the landlady, the old woman laughed and told him that the 'nice young boy' had moved out a month ago, and that she missed his help on garbage day. Seemed she held him in very high regard because of his selfless behaviour. He had always been ready to help her if she had any problems, ever since the Hokage himself had asked her if he could have an apartment six years ago.

When Kakashi asked where he moved too, she replied "Some nice manor house in the north east corner of the village…seems he recently came into quite a lot of money. Poor dear earned it, after all the abuse he's been through. So many times I found him repairing the door to his apartment after it had been broken into, honestly it makes me sick to think of the ways some people treat him. I know about the creature sealed inside of him by the Yondaime, but he couldn't help it the boys just a child after all. You say you're his sensei? That's wonderful for Naruto; he always wanted to be a ninja. Would you tell him to visit sometime, I miss his company"

Kakashi thanked the woman and headed in the direction she pointed. In the end it seemed he had misunderstood the boy also. Kakashi was one of the few who knew of Naruto's heritage, and truthfully he should have looked out for Naruto as the boy grew up. But ever since his sensei sacrificed his life, Kakashi had found himself becoming bitter and hating Naruto for something he really had had no control over. Perhaps the Namikaze blood was finally revealing itself, he did not know. He would simply have to ask the boy in person.

**Later **

"This place…of all the ones he could have chosen…" Kakashi stuttered, as his eyes came to a rest of Naruto's new home, the Uzumaki clan manor. As a young chuunin he used to visit this place with his sensei, he even prayed at the nearby temple. Oh he had been so different in those days, so stupid.

When he came upon the front door, he found a note on the door saying 'to any deliverymen, please leave your items on the back door. Sorry I cannot thank you in person but I am out at the moment, Uzumaki Naruto'

'So he does actually live here…where did he go to?' Kakashi thought. Unable to talk directly that moment, the lanky shinobi decided to wait within the house for his genin charge. He entered via the back door, using all the stealth he could muster so that no trace was left of his passing. He then proceeded to explore the vast, plush accommodations, every room offering him something different.

The kitchen was modern with a dishwasher underneath the double sink; a large worktop with space for someone to eat at as shown by the stool parked against it. There was the usual microwave oven and stove, and two separate fridge/freezers each full of food. The house seemed to have everything, a dining room for guests, indoors plumbing, a large living room, the whole shebang. Then Kakashi found the sanctum sanctorum, Naruto's room.

It seemed to be a multi-purpose room with a study in the corner for writing, a large television on the wall opposite the king-size bed, everything a growing teenager needed in a room. He saw an abundance of scrolls dotted about the space, and when he looked at them they all seemed to be simple scroll forms of books that could be found at any library on anatomy, science and so on. 'The kid obviously likes to read' Kakashi thought. Then something caught his eye, a chest by the bed.

Crouching low to inspect it, he saw that the chest looked quite normal if a little out of place; chests like this one were usually used for keeping valuables like jewels and so on. It had the usual locking mechanisms for a chest i.e. a lock (didn't see that coming) but what really set off the mans curiosity was the seal used in tandem with the lock. 'What's Naruto hiding that's so important that he would use an seal like that' he thought, and began forming some seals for a seal breaking jutsu he knew. He then froze when he heard a cold voice from behind him.

"Can I help you with something sensei," it was Naruto. He had been half way to 'Earth meets Sky' when he had remembered he had left some scrolls locked up at home that he needed to replace in their original places in 'The Vault'. And what did he find when he got home, but none other than his own sensei trying to break into his scroll chest.

Kakashi got up and sighed, waving his arms defensively to try to clear the cold atmosphere. "My bad, curiosity almost got the better of me there. Naruto, I was wondering if maybe we could talk…" Kakashi said, trying to sound as calm and serious as possible. Naruto said nothing; he just fixed the older man with the coldest gaze he had ever seen.

"Depends upon the subject of the conversation," he said slowly.

Seeing the boy's sub zero look, Kakashi could do nothing but bathe in the nostalgia. "Kushina-san used to give me a look almost exactly like that one" he mumbled beneath his breath.

Naruto's look dissolved the moment the word 'mother' was mentioned, and he shook his head at the thought. "You knew okaasan? Ryu-san told me you were one of the few present at my birth…I just never figured you'd pick me up on it this quickly"

Kakashi took a step back, his visible eye boggling. Now it was his turn to shake his head. 'He knows…but how. We were always so careful…how could he…' he thought. "How did you find out?" was all he could utter. Suddenly things had become very complicated for the ex-ANBU; everything was changing before his eyes.

Naruto looked a little sheepish, twiddling his fingers nervously. Inside he was scared, could he trust this man whom he had only just met. Bit then he remembered, his parents had trusted Kakashi utterly, to the point where he was allowed to know of his existence. And if his parents could trust this man, then so could he. "Okay sensei, I'll tell you everything…" he said tentatively, and piece by piece he began to orate his meeting with his father and all of the revelations that had followed. The words seemed to flow easily, by the end he couldn't have stopped even if he wanted to. After he finished, Naruto looked over to Kakashi, and to his surprise he saw tears running from the corners of the man eyes. He had pushed up his hitai-ate and was hastily wiping away the tears, trying to restore his decorum.

"Look at me, a grown man crying…guess you affected me in more ways than one Obito…" He looked over at Naruto, pulling the hitai-ate down as he did so "…your father was one of the greatest men that I have ever known. He was kind and wise, always knowing exactly what to tell a person whatever the situation. It's the same with your mother, one of the most beautiful and scary people I have ever met, which is saying a lot considering the life I have lived. I miss them so much Naruto…but in a way I have been given a chance to see them once again…through you."

Naruto was taken aback by the sudden burst of emotion from his laid back sensei. He tried to say something, but was cut off before the words could leave his lips. "I am your sensei Naruto. It is my sworn duty to protect and train you, a duty that I shall uphold with the utmost solemnity. But in order to do that, I need to know just how hard you are pushing yourself outside of the training sessions with your team mates. If I don't know, the entire dynamic of the team could be thrown out of sync with one shinobi being far stronger than the others" he said in all honesty, the tears now gone only to be replaced by a look of iron.

Naruto couldn't help but scoff "And you would know all about being better than others wouldn't you. A jounin at the age of thirteen, c'mon sensei even you have to smell the hypocrisy in that one"

Kakashi smiled "You've done your homework I see. But that's still not the point I am trying to make. Now, with this Shinten Koyou Fuin I suspect training for you progress's a great deal faster than usual. Faster still, considering the brilliant training method you have come up with using the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu. So what are you studying right now, what are your capabilities?"

Naruto grinned, the little kid within him screaming in glee at the opportunity to impress. He went through a list of (almost) all of the new ninjutsu he had learnt or was learning. He described his meeting with Lee and how he was helping him to master Wing Chun. Then there was his re-mastering of the basics, his new knowledge of genjutsu and traps and his new physical regime.

Listening intently, Kakashi could only raise an eyebrow in curiosity. The things Naruto was accomplishing were astounding. Now his sudden increase in skill was easily explainable, and at his current rate who knows how good he could be by the time the years chuunin exams came around.

Naruto finished, the grin still plastered on his face. Then he remembered his reason for coming back to the house, so his face became a little more neutral. "There you go sensei, everything I have done so far. Now could you please leave I've got stuff I need to do"

Kakashi nodded and placed his hands in a seal. Before he left, he decided to leave some parting words to keep the blonde on his side. "Very well. You have nothing to fear Naruto, your secrets safe with me. But we will need to talk more in the future, remember that."

Naruto made a shooing motion with his arm "Fine, whatever"

Kakashi took one last look at his strange and secretive pupil, before nodding and disappearing in a flurry of leaves. "Great, now I'm going to have to clean all this up" he said, huffing in annoyance.

**Elsewhere **

Kakashi stood alone atop the Hokage memorial, pondering to himself. What he had learnt from Naruto just couldn't leave his train of thought. The amazing things his sensei could accomplish, even beyond the grave he was proving his skill as one of the greatest shinobi of all time over and over again. And it seemed that Naruto had inherited that brilliance. True enough it only came into effect with the aid of that incredible seal, but the Namikaze genius was already so clearly evident in the boy's actions. The way he had performed during the bell test was testament to that fact.

It had taken much longer than he thought to heal the bruises caused by Naruto's taijutsu assault, and on closer inspection of the battlefield after the others had left Kakashi had found three sets of spring-loaded shrapnel traps that each zoned in upon the hole. If Naruto had wanted to, the moment Kakashi had jumped out of the pit trap he could have set of a fatal barrage of sharpened stakes and rocks. Yet he didn't.

He had also mastered several jutsu more at home in a jounin's arsenal than a genin's. And that training area, 'Earth meets Sky'. His former sensei had taken him and his team mates there several times for special training; it was where he had created the Chidori. The Yondaime had sworn Kakashi to secrecy over the training area's location, but he had never known why. He had almost forgotten about the place, having not gone there in several years. This new place however, 'the Vault' made perfect sense for the secrecy. For decades there have been rumours of a secret hidden away by the Namikaze clan, but as each generation faded away the chances for learning the secret had faded, until now. Perhaps, if the god's and Naruto were willing, Team Seven might train there was well.

And he concealed his intelligence so well with that mask of stupidity, it was all an act. 'An act that I am now a part of...' Kakashi mused. '…training Naruto is going to be a rewarding experience, for myself and the team as a whole. It's a very arrogant thing to say, but genius shinobi always have a knack fro pushing those around them with their example. And I have two of them, an Uchiha and a Namikaze. Just like the generations before them, their relationship will be like oil and water, unable to mix. Still, I have to try at least.'

**Later **

Naruto and the clones around him grunted, picked themselves up from the grass with slow deliberate movements. They were all exhausted to the point of collapse but refused to quit. They had been at this all afternoon, never stopping once. Even with the extra hundred clones he had created to help with the effort of mastering this jutsu, Naruto seemed to be getting nowhere, and it was steadily infuriating him more and more. His mind was being pushed to its limits trying to figure out what he was doing, and every time he slipped up more clones would be lost.

This exact stage of the training to master this technique involved pouring your chakra into the air around your palm and using it to gather the air into a ball. Once you have condensed the air enough that it is visible, you have supposedly mastered the technique, and it was that simple. But that seeming simplicity only went as far as the black and white that had been filed away into the vast repository of information in Naruto's mind.

That was the purpose of the Fuusaishuu jutsu, using chakra to gather and condense wind at specific locations. And whilst seeming to be a simple supplementary technique to the untrained eye, Naruto saw its true potential, even before the Shinten Koyou Fuin activated he had seen it. The power to control the movement and density of air, the options that gave a ninja was astronomical. He had already thought up a ton of jutsu that he could create using this technique as a basis, all he had to do was master it.

But that was the trouble, it was so damn hard! All it required was two seals, hitsugi and tori, and then it was up to you. Expelling chakra from your body in this case the hand, you had to intermingle your chakra evenly with the particles of the air and then draw that chakra-laden air into a sphere in the palm of your hand. If you could do that the only thing stopping you from there was your imagination, theoretically. The more chakra you pump into the air the wider your area of influence and the more air you have at your control.

Taking a swig of water from a nearby canteen, the original Naruto went over the instructions again in his mind. He had been training for over a week in the use of this jutsu, what was he doing wrong? Maybe the others had had better luck, "Any of you guys got any further on this thing?" he asked, but all he got were negative answers. He decided to have one more go, and nodded to all his doubles to begin again. Cries of concentration filled the air and each Naruto pushed as much chakra into the air as they could allow, before drawing it back in towards their outstretched palms. He could feel a slight heavy sensation in the air around his palm, like he was carrying a ball made out of lint but that was it. Then a cry went up amongst the crowd.

One clone was jumping up and down screaming victory cries at the top of his hoarse voice. "I did it I did it" he shouted, and when the others all gathered round him they noticed a faint outline in the air. A slight breeze blew past them, running through their hair and by across their skin like the fingers of small ephemeral creatures "What did you do?" one of the Naruto's asked in a hushed voice.

The Naruto in question stopped his revelry and grinned "I don't have to tell you stupid" and with a foxy grin dispelled himself. Moments later, the answer appeared in everyone's minds. 'Of course, it's so simple. We were trying to force the chakra to form a ball with the air, when we should have just been feeling the airflow and using that to direct the chakra heavy air particles. We form a current that spirals faster and faster moving tighter as the speed increases, until we have condensed air.' and with that universal thought they all decided to have one last crack at this stage of the jutsu before they would e dispelled and Naruto would have to retire for the night.

The original Naruto too stood crouched slightly his eyes shut, concentrating on the feel of the air. As he pictured the air spiralling faster and faster like a small funnel in his palm, he began to get this really heavy feeling in his hand. He opened his eyes and saw in the palm of his hand a visible yet strangely transparent ball of air, a blue tint showing the presence of the expelled chakra. It was very faint and harder to see in the dwindling light but it was definitely there. He had cracked it, and all around him his clones were showing varying degrees of success. "Okay guys, that's enough for tonight, I'm beat" he said tiredly, his breathing coming in slow deep inhales.

"We know...same time tomorrow...eat some ramen idiot" and other such varied comments were his only replies, and the clones all dispelled themselves quietly. Sitting down so that he would not fall from them mental exhaustion brought about by this training, Naruto waited for it to hit him. First came the slight dizziness, then the full on high light headed feeling that was only felt by people when they faint. Despite his seated position Naruto found himself flat on his back, waiting for the paralysing groggy feelings to leave his tired muscles and clear his fine tuned head. But at least he had a smile on his face...he was one step closer to mastering this jutsu that he had come to obsess over.

**The Next Day **

Today was a very special day where Naruto concerned, because today was his day off from doing either team exercises with the others or some menial little D-rank mission (or two). It was also quite fortuitous that today was his next training session with Lee. Naruto could now readily admit that he thoroughly enjoyed these days, he had come to find a very firm friend in the slightly eccentric boy. He thoroughly enjoyed their training together as it gave him a chance to improve himself both physically and mentally, forgetting all of his troubles through bone crunching work. It also gave him an opportunity to talk with a like-minded individual, which helped a great deal especially when Naruto wanted to get something off of his chest that was bothering him.

Lee also reaped benefits from their arrangement. Once Naruto had begun to grasp the basics of Wing Chun, he gained a competent sparring partner other than his one-sided rival Neji. He also learnt alongside Naruto, incorporating some of the techniques and exercises of Wing Chun into his own training regime and taijutsu style, Goken. Both felt noticeably energised when in the others presence and would train harder than they would if they were alone.

Approaching the training spot they frequented, Naruto saw his friend beating away at another training post. He unpacked his things and waited for the boy to finish his counting before greeting him. "Morning Lee, how's everything been with you" he said with a wave.

"Ah good morning Naruto-kun. Fate has given us a wonderful day to train has it not" came the boys reply, as he indicated to the sunny weather.

"Yeah sure has. So what's on the agenda today Lee, we going to spar again or what"

"Not today Naruto-kun I am afraid. My sensei, the great Gai has decided that once again he shall impart upon me the wisdom of a new technique that he calls the Omote Renge. I am afraid that our time training together shall be short, so we do not have time to spar. I can however help correct you on those footwork issue's you said you had found when trying to perform your kata. I must say that the speed on which you mastered this taijutsu style is phenomenal, you must be an exceptional hard-worker."

Naruto looked away in embarrassment and shame. The only reason he had grasped Wing Chun so quickly was because of the hundred Kage Bunshin that he had practising it on the fields of 'Earth meets Sky' every night, alongside his morning workout where he copied what he had learned from the clones the previous night. His dedication paled in comparison to Lee's zealous attitude towards training.

Naruto shook his head, "Nah, I just have a good memory that's all. But in any case, I was thinking about whether or not I should continue with Wing Chun and really master it or begin learning another taijutsu style and combine the two for something more unique."

Lee scratched his chin and hummed thoughtfully. "Well, I am not a good judge since I only use the Goken style that Gai-sensei has taught me. However, since we have begun training together and I have helped you learn the Wing Chun style I have begun to see the merit of learning and combining styles. I must confess that I have been so bold as to copy some of the moves I have seen you perform and integrate them with my own technique's"

"Well..." Naruto asked, looking at his friend with anticipation in his eyes.

"It has proven to be most successful. By applying the Wing Chun concepts of 'centreline' attacks and energy conservation with the Goken's high speed and bone crunching force, the results are what I can only describe as a highly effective punching attack. Allow me to demonstrate..." Lee took an easy Goken position, standing straight with one arm by his side bent at the elbow with the palm facing up.

In an instant, he disappeared and reappeared before the training post he had previously been beating away at and with a loud 'Haa' punched forward at the post's centre his arm ramrod straight. Upon impact there was a second when a slight splintering sound was heard, and then with a booming sound the entire post exploded into thousands of tiny chips of wood. Lee took a long deep breath and walked back to Naruto, who was gawking at the sight, he had witnessed, several splinters sticking out of his unruly blonde hair.

"Holy shit" was his only words.

Lee frowned at his friend's use of profane words, but ignored it. "As you can see the results are clear. Normally if I had hit that post with my full strength all that would have happened is that a large hole would have been made by the indentation of my fist in the wood. But by employing the key philosophies inherent in the Wing Chun style, the power of a single punch can be magnified tenfold. I call it the Tatewaru-ken. Even Gai-sensei has noted the improvement…and has asked where I learnt the technique"

Naruto began to feel nervous when he saw the guilty look in Lee's eyes. 'He didn't do what I think he had done' he thought with dread. His answer came when a large poof of smoke came from in front of the boys, and out of the smoke came the sound of crashing waves.

The grey cleared the reveal a man doing a weird thumbs up pose that Naruto had seen Lee do several times, on a cliff face with waves crashing beneath him, a red sun blazing behind him and some turtles waving flags with 'Gai is great' emblazoned on them. "Feast upon the fierce epitaph of youth that is the mighty Gai" he, exclaimed to the heavens, giving a grin that shined in the sunlight. The first thing Naruto noticed about the infamous Gai was the freakishly startling resemblance the man had to Lee. From their clothes to their bowl cut hair and thick fuzzy eyebrows they were exact copies. It was scary.

Gai leapt from his effigy of youth and suddenly sped towards Naruto at an incredible speed, throwing a wicked right hook for the boy's temple. Naruto quickly brought up his arm to block, just in time to feel the meaty thud of fist on flesh. A spike of pain erupted from his arm but thankfully the bone didn't break, although there was a numbing feeling in the limb. "What the hell are you doing you damn nutcase," he shouted, rubbing his arm to bring back the feeling.

"Yosh, it is just as my beloved student told me. You truly are a paragon of youthful energy..." Gai exclaimed loudly "...to stop my attack at such speed and youthful grace. Such a sight brings tears to my manly eyes" he continued, tears welling up in his eyes.

"Ooookay, anyway. I can guess that you told him about our training huh Lee" Naruto said, slightly accusingly.

Lee quickly made warding gestures "But Naruto-kun, there are no secrets between sensei and student. Such an idea contradicts the very nature of the sacred bond a pupil and teacher share" he said with fervent vigour.

'Ah well, not much I can do now. Maybe this is good; Kakashi-sensei said this guy was one of the best taijutsu users in the village. He could help me with my training' Naruto thought to himself, a slight sweat drop evident on his forehead. His attention was once again caught by the sounds of approaching footsteps from the woodland area to his right.

"Wow, somebody actually passed sensei's 'tap test' for once. Not bad huh Neji" came a definitely feminine voice.

The other voice merely huffed in affirmation. The pair emerged from the trees. 'And that would be the rest of the team, this is getting to be a regular party' he thought dryly. The female of the pair was wearing a traditional style sleeveless pink shirt with red thread borders. The look was finished by loose fitting black kung fu pants and slippers. Her hair was done in two panda ear buns, and she wore her hitai-ate on her forehead. The boy she was with, to Naruto's disgust really was a Hyuga. If there was one thing that he hated more than Sasuke it was an arrogant Hyuga jumped up on his own sense of self worth, all because of the pair of white eyes in their head. The only exception to this rule was Hinata; she was alright in Naruto's eyes. The Hyuga boy wore a white shirt with black shorts and bandages wound around his left leg and right arm. His hair was tied back in a sort of loose-ish ponytail, and his forehead protector had its cloth padding spread to cover his entire forehead. He wore a sort of sneer on his face, almost like he was born with it.

"Sensei, why did you bring use here just to see another third rate genin? Shouldn't we be training" the boy said. Naruto ground his teeth together; even his voice sounded high and mighty. Who was he to call him third rate, the arrogant bastard. Fighting the urge to seriously maim the bandaged baka, and swallowed the rage into a tight ball.

"Hmmm, very true Neji..." he turned towards Naruto and adopted a more neutral expression "...my beautiful student Lee has told me of your training days together. You're training in the taijutsu style Wing Chun am I correct..." he got a nod from Naruto "...that's brilliant. It is always an awe-inspiring sight to see a boy your age take an active interest in the physical arts. The easy power of ninjutsu or the subtle tricks of genjutsu distract most, but I can see the devotion in your eyes. You have even helped my student improve, and for that I am eternally grateful. Naruto, that is your name is it not. I come to you with an offer. Would you be so generous so as to alter your training days with Lee to include the rest of my team and myself? If with one ally in training with you in taijutsu, surely with two more and the great Gai by your side you can truly ascend." the last sentence was said with fire in his eyes, his hands clenched into fists, and yet again there were more waves crashing behind him.

Naruto could only say one thing "Wuh" his face the picture of nonplussed shock.

"Sensei we are clearly going nowhere with this idiot. Can I leave now" Neji said, not so much asking as stating a fact. He turned slightly, before looking at Lee with evident disgust.

"Lee, the very fact that you train with this amateur is a sign of your weakness. For your own good, stop this foolishness or you shall only descend deeper into failure. You are at the threshold Lee, do not make the wrong choices, as it may jeopardise this team's abilities in the field."

That was it for Naruto. The white eyed weirdo had been grating him with his high and mighty attitude from the moment he had set foot from the tree's, and now he was insulting Lee. That was beyond an insult, and in Naruto's eyes it was beyond redemption. Even if he begged he would not be forgiven for those words. He looked and saw the down looks on Lee's face, all of the usual confidence and energy he had was gone. His shoulders were slumped, and he looked at his feet with shame. Like with many instances in his life, Naruto didn't bother with the unnecessary process of thought with what he decided to do next.

He snarled and exploded from his standing position towards Neji, his fist drawn tight to his side ready to smash the boy's skull into the ground. What happened next would echo into his mind for some time to come, both literally and figuratively. Neji swivelled around to face him in a perfect 180-degree swing. His eyes had become sharper, the veins around them becoming more prominent as Neji activated his Byakugan. "Fool" was the only word to come from his mouth.

The fight between them, if it can be called that at all was brief and incredibly one sided. Naruto attacked as fast as he could, using all of the budding skill he had with his close range taijutsu. He had heard of the power of the Juken style used by the Hyuga, but to experience it first hand was another experience entirely. Every move he made was countered with a soft tap or push, and every small hit Neji made hurt like hell. He would occasionally score a glancing blow, but Neji seemed to brush it aside as if it were nothing. Maybe it was the strange feeling Naruto got whenever a hit came close, like his limb was suddenly pushing against a cushion of some kind.

The brief fight was finished by Neji, when the Hyuga boy winded Naruto with a hard push to his chest. It was angled to strike at his lungs and diaphragm, and from the point of impact Naruto felt his lungs burned as if they were on fire. He collapsed to the floor in a thud, cursing himself for being so foolish. 'What were you thinking idiot, he's a Hyuga. They're masters of close range combat, and from the looks of it this guys one of the best.' he thought madly. He tried to speak, but was cut off by a voice he was rapidly beginning to loathe.

"This is the measure between us. A loser like you shall never compare to me, that is the determination of fate. You can wear whatever 'special' training weights you desire, or train as hard in any taijutsu style you can but it will all be in vain. People like you are and always will be destined for defeat, and your trying to stand against that destiny proves how clueless you really are...dead last Uzumaki Naruto" he said slowly, clearly enjoying every moment of his glory, basking in his own self-superiority like a wine connoisseur savours a fine wine.

Naruto tried to move his arms, but found he was unable to do so. Neji answered his silent question "I have sealed the tenketsu in your arms and damaged your lungs. Try as hard as you like, you shall not be able to move for some time. Stay in the dirt where you belong, and remember always your defeat at the hands of the noble Hyuga clan's all-powerful taijutsu, Juken. There is no defence my eyes cannot overcome, no attack I cannot foresee," and with that he turned and began to walk away from the small group. "I am going to train elsewhere sensei. Tenten..." he barked, as if ordering a dog to his side "...are you coming as well?"

Tenten moved to leave with him, and then faltered at the sight of a struggling Naruto, a downcast Lee and a stone faced Gai. "I'll catch up with you Neji, okay?"

"Tch, fine" the boy said and continued on his way. Naruto glared at the departing figure with hate. He had found a new goal for himself, he would beat that teen. Some day they would fight again and on that day it will be Neji that shall look up at him from the dirt. He banished those thoughts from his head and moved on to getting up. Since his arms hung at his side leaden with some invisible force, Naruto used his knee's to slowly push himself up. He felt a strong grip on his shoulder, and turned his head to see Gai holding him for support. Once he was on one knee he stood slowly up and took a deep breath, ignoring the burning in his chest.

"Don't take Neji's words to heart young Uzumaki. That boy has had a long and troubled past; he bear's both scars of the flesh and of the mind. I have tried to break him out of it, but it seems nothing I or anyone else can do will get through the barriers he has around his heart..." his face darkened, but with a shake he brightened himself up and out of the morose attitude "...but let us forget such negative thoughts. Naruto my offer still stands, may my team train with you every third day?"

Naruto thought things over for a long minute, and then nodded slightly. It might help him a lot if he were to train with more than one taijutsu specialist. That and Gai knew Kakashi, so Naruto could learn about his new sensei as well as train.

"Yosh, then it is settled. Lee, while your friend is recuperating by the tree, one thousand push-ups one handed. Whaddaya say?" said the loud green adult. Lee, still morose from the scolding from Neji and Naruto's beating by the Hyuga visibly cheered up as his sensei's words reached his ear.

A beaming smile formed on his face, "Hai Gai-sensei. Let us make it two thousand one handed push-ups so that we may truly push our bodies to their limits" fire in his eyes. Naruto smiled, his friend was back to normal it seemed.

"Very well. Tenten, you take care of our young friend whilst Lee and I purify our bodies through sweat and toil" Gai finished with a patented 'nice-guy' pose. He and Lee moved to the other side of the woodland clearing. Naruto slowly moved to a nearby tree and slumped against it. Tenten sauntered over to him and propped herself against the tree, leaning against it with her back.

"It'll take at least an hour until you'll be able to move your arms" she said with a slight scolding tone, as if he were a naughty child. "It was foolish to challenge Neji like that. Brave, but really foolish. His Byakugan has a 360-degree range of vision with a pinpoint accuracy. He is able to see a person's inner chakra coils and thus target it with his Juken taijutsu. That and he's a natural born genius, so no matter what you try he will win. It's as simple as that. Lee see's Neji as his 'eternal rival' it's another thing he picked up from sensei"

Naruto chuckled, "Along with the green spandex and bowl cut you mean" he offered.

Tenten giggled slightly "Something like that. My name's Tenten, Mizuru Tenten in case your hard of hearing" she joked half heatedly.

"Uzumaki Naruto, at your service" Naruto replied with a slight wave of his hand. Even with his incredible stamina and rapid healing abilities it was still taking a great degree of time for his tenketsu points to re-open. After that light-hearted greeting, the two settled into an easy conversation.

They talked about life as a shinobi, Naruto quizzing Tenten on any missions she had been on. They both shared their own unique experiences of D-rank missions, drawing collective shudders from each other at the graphic detail they both put into in the telling of the tales. When it went to training, Tenten was especially curious about how Naruto met Lee, and when he told her of his encounter with the blindfolded sprinter she couldn't help herself as she doubled over with laughter. They talked for over an hour on various subjects, as Lee and Gai went through various exercises in increasingly high numbers.

**Later that day **

Naruto wiped a sheen of sweat from his forehead. Despite his seemingly goofy exterior, Gai was one heck of a taskmaster. Naruto found himself pushed to his limits and in some cases beyond them. But it was a good feeling, your every muscle crying out for a break from the pummelling they were receiving. Calming in a way, and it was fun training with another person in his age bracket. Tenten was a master of weapons for her age, and was all too happy to 'help' Naruto improve his ability to dodge by throwing various projectiles from shurikan to oddly enough a sickle.

Needless to say sometimes things were taken a little too seriously and Naruto knew his clothes would leave the day with more than their fair share of slashes across the fabric. Neji hadn't returned during the remainder of the day, and it was now mid-afternoon. Gai had reassured Naruto (not that Naruto was in any way concerned, he just wondered where the pre-teen had went to) that Neji would often train alone citing clan secrets prevented them from seeing the jutsu he practised.

He took a cooling draft from his canteen and passed it around the group. "How long have you been practising Wing Chun Naruto-san" Gai asked between breathes. He and Lee had just finished a sparring session, it had been one sided of course in the jounin's favour but Lee always came out with his abilities honed on the grindstone.

"Um, a couple of months" he lied. He didn't want another jounin on his case. Gai frowned "Don't lie to me Naruto-san. I have been practising taijutsu since before you were born, I know the signs to look for on the body that shows prolonged practice of martial arts. Judging from the way your muscles shift when you fall into a stance, and the way your knucklebones crack after your 69th punch, I would wager that you have only been practicing the style for a month. Am I correct in my assumption?"

Naruto hung his head 'Man, just my luck this guys got eyes sharper than sensei' he thought, at a loss as to how the adults always seemed to know everything. "You got me Gai-san. I started a half month before I was placed into my team so not that long."

Tenten looked back and forth between the two, "Then how is it that you're so good. I mean you're no chip on sensei, Lee or Neji, but they've been doing taijutsu for ages now. Years in the case of Neji and sensei. And yet, you are able to fend off Lee for at least four minutes. Nobody can be at that level after only a month."

"I can keep a few secrets cant I?" Naruto joked, "Let's just say I get in a lot of practice and leave it at that"

"In any case, you are a very gifted youth. Who is your sensei? Whilst Lee has told me the names of your team mates, Haruno Sakura and Uchiha Sasuke, he didn't tell me the name of the jounin that is training you."

"Hatake Kakashi, why?" Naruto replied.

At the mention of the name, Gai visibly bristled. His shoulders grew rigid and his eyes dangerously sharp. "Kakashi is sensei's 'eternal rival' has been since they were genin" Tenten whispered to Naruto.

Then the jounin leapt to his feet and cried to the heavens "Curse you Kakashi, sending an innocent to spy on the illustrious Gai and his glorious students. To think my eternal rival is so desperate, but you shall find your hip plan backfiring, oh yes. Your student shall train with my team and I, and he shall tell you of our skill and you shall trembles in your boots."

Naruto looked to Tenten, who mouthed 'sorry' to him. "Uh, I think you kinda got it wrong Gai..."

But Gai silenced him with a wave of his hand. "No Naruto-san, do not defend Kakashi. He shall feel my righteousness when we cross paths once more, and the tied score of 49-49 shall tip in my favour" by now he had whipped himself into a sort of frenzy, spouting poetic babble with dramatic gestures. Naruto consigned himself to the idea that he wouldn't get a word in edgeways. He had neglected to reveal to his sensei just who he was practicing taijutsu with, and if Gai was a passionate a 'rival' as Naruto believed him to be then this little secret would soon be out in the open with everything else.

"HEY GAI-SAN!!" he shouted, which actually managed to pierce through the jounin's reverie. "Would you mind keeping these little training sessions quiet from Kakashi-sensei. I kinda want to keep my true strength secret, if you get me"

The man took a moment to register the request, before calming down a little. "How can I refuse such a request from such a gifted paragon of youth. My lips are sealed young Naruto-san." Naruto breathed a sigh of relief.

"Okay then...let's get back to it then. By my count there's at least another two hours to go before we begin to lose the light, so we'd better use it hadn't we" he said, getting up with a heave. A few quick pops of his joints and his limbs were back in some working order. Gai and Lee sported wide grins, and even Tenten was getting a little caught up in the group dynamic.

She was having a surprising amount of fun training like this. She usually practised with Neji, him deflecting her attacks to sharpen his defence, her refining her perfect aim further. But this was different, it was actually fun for her. Naruto proved to be a good moving target when compared to the stoic Neji, that and he had this cool attitude beneath a care-free exterior that she found fascinating.

With a grin she pulled out a kunai, as Gai spoke up "Yosh, then lets us not waste any time. Lee, we shall resume our match. Tenten, resume your sparring with Naruto" and Naruto turned to look at Tenten, who was giving him this scary sadistic look that promised pain.

**That Night **

Naruto eased himself into his large bath, allowing the waters warmth to seep into his muscles and bones. Damn that Tenten was one scary girl. The more they got into their little game of cat and mouse, the more determined she seemed to want to do something permanent. He went home nursing a leg wound and a gash on his midsection. But at least he had gotten better at defecting and dodging projectiles. Well, having an energetic kunoichi throw weapons with frightening accuracy at your private places sort of forced you to get real good very quickly.

But it had been a good day, he had even gained some more experience with the Fuusaishuu jutsu after having some clones practice it at 'Earth meets Sky'. He was still a long way off from getting the jutsu down, but the more he practised the more control he felt whenever he spiralled the wind into his hands. Also he had made some more friends with the exception of a certain Hyuga. The thought of the arrogant jackass made his blood boil, and he knew it shouldn't. So he did some deep breathing to calm him down, and relaxed in the soothing water.

**Next Day **

It was mid-afternoon. They had been tracking their targets movements for the past hour, and had subtly manoeuvred it into the trap that had been set. All that was needed was the word go from the team leader.

"This is Raven. I'm at point A"

"This is Cherry Blossom. I'm at point B"

"This is Joker. I'm at point C"

"That was a minute too slow Naruto, don't get sloppy. Is the target in range?"

Naruto rolled his eyes, 'That's because my muscles are still slightly cramped from yesterday'. Sasuke answered the jounins question, "Affirmative. Shall we make our move?"

"Yes. Go"

Three shadows erupted from behind the trees and descended upon their intended target. The target turned around and saw its attackers, but it was all too late. Tora meowed in distress, and fought against its captors with everything it had. "Could we please do something other than track down at damn CAT!" screamed Naruto as he held the scratching tabby inches from his face.

**At the Hokage Building **

"Tora-Chan, oh mommy has missed you so much my little pumpkin," said the rather large wife of the current daimyo of the Ho no Kuni. She grabbed the scrambling cat with her big meaty arms and held it tight, paying the clerks at the desks the fee for the mission.

Naruto looked at the scene and smiled at the cat's obvious discomfort 'Serves it right' he thought, unconsciously touching the scratch it had made on his cheek. He then waited for the woman to leave before looking across the room at the Hokage and put on his most intimidating glare, but the old man seemed completely unfazed by it. "Look oji-san, no offence an all but I think I speak for my team-mates when I say that we need a more...challenging mission. We have done over fifteen D-ranks, and that is the qualifying number for any genin team to have to do in order to receive a C-rank mission. That, and I an personally sick and tired of cleaning up dog crap, babysitting rich guys kids and hunting down GOD DAMN CATS!"

As Kakashi smacked Naruto on the head, Iruka, who was helping the Hokage with the missions and adjoining paperwork that day, rose from his seat and shouted back at the blonde "Naruto, don't shout at the Hokage-sama. You are only given D-rank missions for a reason, your own safety. Genin like yourself are only allowed D-ranks because of your lack of experience, you are not ready for a C-rank yet."

"Calm down Iruka," said the calming voice of the elder Hokage "…Naruto is correct in his assumption. It would appear he was listening more than you thought when you taught him about missions at the Academy, and I understand your concern. However, I have been remiss. Kakashi, your team is owed one C-rank, do you think they are up to the task?"

"With out a doubt Hokage-sama. Although his method was crass and childish, Naruto did make a point I was hoping to raise in my next report. At least now I won't have to fill in as much paperwork"

Sarutobi smiled and turned to his adjutant. "Very well, Iruka could you bring them in please"

Iruka bowed and exited the room through a door to his left. Whilst he was gone, Sarutobi continued "It's very fortunate that you arrived at this time, I have only just received a request for a team of shinobi from two men. I was thinking of assigning it to Gai and his team, but I think it's more in your area." And with a motion for Kakashi to step forward, he handed the lazy but tall jounin the mission scroll. On a quick skim-read Kakashi's eye lit up, "A bodyguard mission. Hmm, haven't done one of those in a while."

There was a knock at the door where Iruka had gone into. The door slid open, and in walked two men who looked to be in their late fifties. The first had a rough tanned exterior which suggested he was used to heavy manual labour in the sun, with glasses grey hair and a beard. He was currently downing a bottle of sake at a rate of noughts that made even Kakashi wince. The man beside him was clean shaven, had long grey-black hair and a scar that began on his chin and ran down his neck before stopping just short of his chest. The bearded one took a swig of his drink and squinted hard, "Man I must be REALLY drunk. All I'm seeing is a bunch of midget kids where ninja should be. And that blonde one…he has the face of a retarded monkey" he slurred.

Naruto's eyes blazed 'MIDGET! RETARDED MONKEY! I'll show you ya old sack of bones' and without a moments hesitation withdrew from his side pouch and threw a kunai, that imbedded itself three centimetres from the mans left temple. The man turned his head and looked at the knife, a long bead of nervous sweat suddenly running down his face. At this point his longer haired compatriot decided to break the silence in the room.

"See brother, they really do have strong ninja here. I told you the trip would be worth it," he said, clapping the other man on the shoulder.

Sarutobi loudly cleared his throat to draw everyone's attention. "Tazuna-san, Soun-san, these are the ninja who shall be guarding you as per your request"

"That's it. Just three puny kids and a guy with a freaky hairstyle and a lazy eye. How can they protect us, they probably couldn't guard a stone statue." said Tazuna slowly, ignoring the glares he got from the trio of genin.

"Peace brother, remember the talk Tsunami-chan gave you about opening your mouth before you think" Soun chided, chuckling at the small curses he received from Tazuna.

Tazuna finished his bottle of sake with a long swig and 'hmphed'. The doors of the office then opened with a small creak and in walked four individuals. The first was a woman with long black hair, peculiar red eyes and scarlet lipstick, wearing a white bandage/mini-dress ensemble that for the grown men in the room (bar the Sandaime of course) was extremely provocative. She was followed by three young genin, two boys and an extremely timid girl. The first boy wore a green coat that covered most of his lower face just below the nose, with his sunglasses and brown/black hair doing the rest to cover his face.

The other boy was talking loudly to the small puppy sitting on his head. He wore a blue fur lined hoodie over his head, and his feral eyes, sharp nails and red tooth markings gave him a more bestial appearance when compared with others. And finally the girl, who after seeing a certain blonde haired boy was blushing furiously whilst trying to hide as well as she possibly could behind her teammates. She had startling white eyes, which if you looked closely were actually a very pale lilac. She wore a cream hooded top that was baggy to hide her body more. Her hair was brown with a subtle blue tint, and she wore her hitai-ate around her neck.

The woman spoke up "Team 8, reporting in Hokage-sama. Mission successful"

Sarutobi smiled as an idea formed in his head. "Very well Tazuna-san, if you feel that one team guarding you is inadequate then I shall assign you two. One for your brother-in-law and one for you..." and he raised his hand to silence him "at no extra cost than is required of a C-rank mission. One team comes free if you want to see it that way."

He then turned to the woman and her team. "Kurenai, I know this was to be the last mission for this week but I have an opportunity for your team. Tazuna-san has just requested that he have a back-up team for his C-rank mission. I am recommending your team, what do you say?"

Kurenai's eyes widened for a moment before returning quickly to her usual calm exterior. 'So soon?' she thought, before remembering where she was. "Of course Hokage-sama. On behalf of my team, we honoured that you would select for a mission like this"

There was a triumphant yell from Kiba and a bark from Akamaru. You couldn't really tell, but Shino had a small ghost of a smile. Hinata on the other hand was having kittens at the thought of being so close to Naruto for a prolonged length of time, 'I would be together...with Naruto,' she blushed a shade of pink.

The Sandaime smiled, 'This could turn out to be very interesting for both teams', "Very well then. Meet Tazuna-san and Soun-san at the east gate tomorrow morning. Good luck"

Naruto was subconsciously dancing a jig in his mind, but on the outside he had a small smile. 'Okay, I have to go home and decide what scrolls to take with me, any training gear that I might need. I'll need to go tell Lee about the mission, and then there's the new kunai from Ryu-san...' the mental to-do list went on and on. Rubbing his hands together, Naruto kept himself contained until Kakashi bid the Hokage farewell and dismissed the team.

**Later **

After a quick sprint home to grab a bag, Naruto moved as fast as he could for 'Earth meets Sky'. He arrived there in under a half-hour on a sprint, and as he slowed down and pushed through the undergrowth ringing the training area Naruto breathed in deep the cool mountain air. 'I know this is only a C-rank, but I may not be back for some time so I need to make sure that this place is secure. No matter how many times I say it, it's still true. God I love this place' he thought after taking another deep breath.

He approached the far wall and swiped some blood over the seal to 'The Vault'. He waited to the side as the large stone doors swung open, and ran into the underground bunker/library. By now he was pretty familiar with the myriad of passageways and tunnels that burrowed into the bedrock beneath the earth, so he didn't get lost as much as he had the first few times.

He quickly collected everything he needed, and paused over some scrolls that detailed the numerous clans of Konoha. He was well aware that many closely guarded secrets lay on the parchment before him, and also knew that he would be quickly killed if certain clans got any hint of his having said secrets. So he picked the scrolls on the Aburame, Hyuga, Inuzuka and Uchiha clans and sealed them all within a spare scroll he had.

In a brief moment of inspiration, Naruto decided to also take with him something extra that in his mind might prove useful. Even though the highest calibre of foe you were expected to face in a C-rank mission was bandits, it couldn't help to be prepared for other eventualities. It didn't take long for him to find the item in question, he had been wanting to try it out for awhile now.

After finishing with all he needed to do in 'The Vault', Naruto moved outside and took special care to hide the seal to the door. For precautionary measures he placed a genjutsu upon the rock that the seal was placed on, making it seem like the seal never existed. He hoped that would hold, but he knew that no one had followed him there. He left the training grounds reluctantly, but quickly moved home.

He then headed over to where he knew Lee would be training, and informed him of his new mission. After accepting wishes of good luck from Lee, who resumed his previous beating of a training log, Naruto headed home to pack for the journey. When he was finished, he then continued with his usual nightly routine of reading, reading and more reading.

**Next Day **

Naruto sat on a bench near the meeting spot that had been designated by Kakashi for them to gather ready for the journey. He was early by his standards, no one else was there yet. That was okay for him, it gave him time to practice in the early morning gloom. He produced five clones to stand watch, as he practised the Fuusaishuu. He was starting to get better at it, but no matter how good he got at it now it would still be some time before he could use it in battle. Well, unless drastic measures were taken, if you see a couple of hundred Kage Bunshin practising drastic. Naruto knew that with his already huge chakra capacity he could make thousands of clones at a push, and with those clones could learn jutsu in a matter of hours. But he didn't want to do that. He wanted the satisfaction of mastering a jutsu personally, with only as many clones a would be needed.

With a slow breath he channelled his chakra into the air. The bonding process had been very meticulous for him at first, but now it was beginning to be second nature. Then he pulled the chakra soaked air towards him, swirling it with currents of his own devising until it formed into a tight ball just above the palm of his hand. He then looked up with a start and quickly let the condensed air dissipate. One of the clones had noticed someone, and dispelled itself to send the information back to Naruto.

It was Sasuke, followed closely by Sakura. Sasuke took a position leaning against a tree, gazing into middle distance whilst Sakura bade Naruto good morning with a small yawn. Shino was next to appear, stoic and impassive as per usual. Naruto was slightly put off when Shino greeted him alone and ignored the others. Hinata and Kurenai, who both said 'Good Morning' to everyone, followed him. Well Kurenai said 'Good Morning' but Hinata was only able to mumble a greeting under her breath. Finally Kiba arrived with a barking Akamaru.

Much later (an hour and a half after the meeting time) Kakashi turned up. "Sorry I'm late, there was this blind mime who was stuck in a well, and..."

"Cut the crap sensei. It's too early in the morning" Naruto said cutting him off. The others all added their own affirmatives, mostly from Sakura and Kiba who were more inclined than the others to talk. "You know sensei..." Naruto spoke up "...this being late thing is almost becoming a habit" he said with sarcasm. Kakashi chuckled at his students little display of wit. He greeted everyone before moving over to talk with Kurenai.

Much later, Tazuna and Soun arrived. Soun seemed to be half dragging Tazuna, who appeared to be under the effects of a very heavy hangover. His eyes were inflamed slightly and he was massaging his temples quickly. "I'm very sorry about this, but brother insisted on drinking till late last night, and he sleeps like the dead when drunk" Soun apologised.

"I do not. I happen to be a natural heavy sleeper" retorted Tazuna hotly.

"Well that's irrelevant now, let's just get going shall we" suggested Kakashi. Everyone nodded and began to file out, hoisting their packs and tightening the straps so they wouldn't slip. Naruto lingered briefly 'My first time outside of the village' he thought to himself.

"Naruto c'mon. Everyone's waiting for you" Sakura shouted back to him. Naruto nodded to himself and hurried after them, out of the village gates and into the wide world.

**Authors Notes**

Another chapter done, another step closer to finishing the update. Time is a funny thing, difficult to gauge except when hindsight is thrown into the mix. My time has been a little strained these past few days, with an exam and several departmental theatre productions to attend. Take tonight for instance, Oliver Twist at 7:30pm. And tomorrow I need to be up at the crack of dawn to drive fifty miles for a dentist appointment at 10am. Oh life is SO good to me.

Anyway enough mumbling. As I write this it is the 23/01/08, 3:20pm. As I finish this and enter the latter chapters, there is very little I really need to do in terms of editing content. So the following chapters should be up in the next couple of days, god willing, and then its clean sailing with the new chapter. I can't wait for all of the reviews; the amount of times this story has been placed under 'favourite' or 'alert' is insane. See Ya.

**Tatewaru-ken - **Shield breaker Fist

**Goken** – Strong Fist

**Jyuken** – Gentle Fist

**Byakugan** – White Eye


	7. Chapter 6: Journey to the Waves

**Naruto Legacy of the Hokages**

**By Lysander45**

**Disclaimer:** I do not and never will own Naruto, no matter how much I want too. Any and all characters, jutsu and places that I create are mine; if you want to use them please ask permission.

" Speech

' Thoughts

() Jutsu translations/authors voice/usual use for brackets that I cannot be bothered to describe

Italic memories/writing/Spirit voice

Bold emphasis on word

… Pause during speech

**Chapter 6 – Journey to the Waves**

Naruto ran out through the great gates of the village, quickly catching up with the group. "Sorry about that, just savouring the moment" he apologised to the others, who each looked at him with a mix of amusement and pity for some.

"Okay then, shall we move along quickly. Its two days walk to the border of Nami no Kuni and that's if we move quickly" piped up Kakashi, who headed the front of the group with everyone else behind them. As they all began the journey they were all in high spirits, conversing amongst themselves in their individual teams. Tazuna and Soun kept close to Kakashi and Kurenai, feeling they were safer with the jounin. Although on the surface they laughed and talked avidly with the jounins on life in their country, underneath they were nervous as hell. Their true emotions would occasionally break through the mask. Naruto caught one of these moments in the corner of his eye whilst chatting to Kiba about their own unique tests after graduation.

It turned out that Kurenai's only stipulation for passing and becoming a genin was that Shino, Kiba and Hinata show them their full repertoire of jutsu so that she could know where to start with their training. That was all, no gruelling test of might and skill to get a bell, just a show and tell exercise. Naruto groaned in discomfort, and then noticed someone who was not sharing in the high spirits.

Hinata hung back away from the group by a metre or so, hanging her head with worry. What if she wasn't good enough, what if she let the others down somehow? She was so caught up in her thoughts that she didn't notice someone join her at the back.

"Whatcha thinking about Hinata. Must be important for you to be so distracted like that"

Startled, Hinata looked up to see who had disturbed her. When she saw who it was she blushed a faint shade of pink and looked away. Naruto looked at her with a slightly puzzled look on his face, "No need to look away like that, I'm not that ugly" he joked. Hinata swallowed and turned slowly to face forwards, occasionally looking to the side at the blonde haired boy.

"You worried about something? Because if you are you shouldn't be. This is a C-rank mission, the hardest things we'll face on this are bandits, and they're not exactly hard enemies. You've got your cool Byakugan and Juken; they'll protect you from harm more than anything anyone else has. Plus, we got Kakashi-sensei and Kurenai-san here with us. That's two jounins" he held up his fingers for her.

"B…but..." Hinata began to speak, the words slowly coming out. Her voice was so quite; Naruto could only just hear her. "But...aren't you at all...n…nervous? Its so much pressure...aren't you worried...you'll...mess up?"

"Nope"

This reply shocked Hinata. For someone like her who lacked self-confidence to such a high degree, a statement like that was confusing, awe-inspiring and terrifying. "W...why?" she asked, an overwhelming curiosity washing over her usual timid nature.

"Because I cant afford to be nervous. If you doubt yourself in anything, you have already lost. Nothing is more damaging than uncertainty." Although he didn't know it at the time, Naruto's words would have one of the most profound affects on his friend than anything else in her lifetime. Hinata went quite for a time. A small smile crept upon her face, her spirits raised by her crush's confident words. That's what she loved about Naruto, no matter what he never doubted himself.

The ice successfully broken between them, the pair settled into a mild mannered conversation. Naruto enjoyed it almost as much as Hinata. This whole experience for him, travelling with another team was quite an eye opener. He had never really talked or hung out with many of his fellow classmates (other than Kiba, Shikimaru and Choji who he would sometimes cut class with) because he had been to busy pulling pranks and training to keep up with Sasuke. So as he talked and travelled with them, he decided he would take the time to get to know everyone. Their childhood likes and dislikes and so on. And that's just what he did with Hinata, and over the period of what seemed to be a short span of time (and was actually several hours) he and Hinata swapped their unique life stories.

He learnt of how it was for her growing up in the Main Branch of the Hyuga clan, or more specifically as the clan's heiress and future leader. Some of the things she had to learn the sacrifices that were expected of her. It was shocking how messed up the clan were, with the callous disregard the Main house exhibited to their detached family the Branch house. And to show such disregard, which bordered on loathing in some cases was one of the things Hinata was expected to show. Because if she didn't, if she wasn't detached and aloof like many viewed her father to be, she would be seen as weak. And weakness would not be tolerated in a clan of such importance as the Hyuga.

'When I become Hokage, I shall change the Hyuga so nobody will be expected to do such things' Naruto thought grimly. He hid these grim thoughts beneath his usual smile and continued to listen to Hinata. He told her about what it was like growing up for him, albeit heavily edited so as not to frighten the girl or make her suspicious of anything. To her it was simply the life of an orphan who grew up without parents or friends for a great many years, still a sob story if anything but minus the savage beatings and mob attacks.

**Close by **

Three figures watched their prey from afar. They had been stalking the two men for over a week but had lost them at the walls of the village, and now they had acquired a small division of bodyguards, shinobi from Konohagakure no Sato. They had been sloppy and should have attacked sooner, but their master might still forgive them if they killed them now. He had entrusted them with this mission; he was counting on them.

"We shall go first. We shall..." intoned one, his voice wheezing with a metallic rasp.

"...Hide as a puddle of water" finished the second for him, his voice like the first containing a metallic undertone.

"Very well. You take out the jounin team leaders. Use the chain link for your claws; it'll be clean and lethal. I'll then attack the others in the confusion, you kill the targets. We shall attack soon" said the third. This voice had no metallic tone to it, but was so cold and emotionless you couldn't really distinguish between it and the voices before it.

"Hai, nii-san" intoned the two. It would begin soon.

**Back with the group **

Naruto and Hinata's conversation was not lost on the rest of the group. Just behind them their respective sensei lingered and talked amongst themselves. "Well at least they're getting along. At this rate this should be quite a nice easy ride for them all. A good introduction to C-ranks wouldn't you say Kurenai"

"Hai. I was a little shocked when the Hokage-sama offered this mission to my team, but now I am glad that I accepted it. It will be good for Hinata, Shino and Kiba to experience the world outside the village walls" Kurenai answered. "By the way Kakashi, I must say that I am surprised that you accepted these genin to be your pupils after all. Your methods are not exactly…lenient when choosing candidates. Yours is the most thorough of all tests for graduates. How was it that you passed these, especially Naruto considering he was the worst of his class to graduate."

Kakashi looked his fellow jounin dead in the eyes. "That's exactly what I thought"

"What?"

Kakashi's usually lazy visage furrowed as he recalled the events of the bell test. "Naruto...is no ordinary genin"

"I already know tha.."

"NO!" he cut her off sharply, keeping his voice to the minimum to avoid any gazes from the nearby group. "No, not that. His raw skill...ah. During the bell test, he deciphered the hidden meaning of the test within seconds of my explanation. After that when the test had begun, he started laying down the foundations for an elaborate scheme. He tried to convince Sasuke and Sakura to aid him but after they refused. He implemented his plan and drew me into it in a heartbeat..."

"…He took the bells from me using deception, traps and a brilliant combination of both ninjutsu and taijutsu...for a genin that is. His chakra control during this was close to chuunin, I actually found him SITTING on the surface of the river that flows through the training area. He was sensing my chakra, hunting ME down. After all that, he simply gave the bells to the others and allowed himself to be tied up. It was all just a ruse to show his team mates the truth." He ended with a soft voice, the memory sharp in his mind now as if it had happened scant seconds ago.

Kurenai looked at Kakashi like he had grown a second head. "Even if what you are saying is true, you still should have been able to beat him. You are listed amongst the most talented shinobi the village has ever seen, and that was before you gained the sharingan. How could a boy…a graduate no less, take two bells from you?"

Kakashi seemed to visibly deflate, "It was his strategy. I have gone over it again and again in my mind and it all makes perfect sense. Every act was designed to keep me off balance, the taijutsu, the Kage Bunshin, the smokescreen, the trap, everything. It was only when his anger overpowered his judgement that I was able to properly take him on head to head, and in that occasion I won easily. But he knew the outcome of taking me on like that, hence the deception he used. It was flawless."

In front of the jounin Naruto was watching them talk out of the corner of his eye. He turned back to Hinata, who had slowly begun to calm down and unwind a little. Talking seemed to be doing her good; she didn't get to do it often with someone who actually listened. "This is nice, everyone travelling together huh Hinata"

"Hai…it feels safe" she replied.

'Only one pause that time, looks like I'm getting through to her' Naruto thought wistfully. "Yeah, and more than that. It's the feeling of camaraderie you feel when you're…" he didn't finish his sentence. His attention instead was fixed on a large puddle at the base of a tree nearby. Normally a common thing to see, but to Naruto it was not normal. He kept on walking to keep up the illusion that he hadn't seen the puddle, smiling at Hinata to reassure her. But in his head, his brain was quickly deciphering the meaning behind the puddle.

'There's been no rain for days and the sun is still high in the sky, so why is there a…shit' he thought as the conclusion appeared to him. Opening his 'chakra sense' Naruto's ethereal gaze swept over the puddle, and immediately spotted the two chakra signatures hidden inside of it. There was also a third, north north-west in a tree three 'rows' in watching. 'What is their purpose here?' he thought, but internally smiled as his mind already offered him five plans of action using the data he had gathered.

After he and Hinata continued walking past the puddle, their sensei followed suit. Their eyes also darted over the small pool of water, and like Naruto they had already reached the correct conclusion. "Kawarimi?" whispered Kurenai under her breath. "Of course" replied Kakashi, and with that said both of the experienced shinobi performed the jutsu. Nobody saw what he or she had done, not even the enemy.

Two bodies rose from the pool, slowly separating from the water. Garbed in blue and brown shinobi apparel, with some parts a sort of camouflage cloth for blending in with their surroundings. Both had a large metal claw/gauntlet on their left and right hands respectively, and breathing apparatus over their mouths. Their eyes were almost pure white with constricted pupils, hinting at the barely contained madness within. Both wore their own form of hitai-ate, a metal plate with some carved wavy lines in the centre, the mark of shinobi from the village of Kirigakure no Sato. One's hitai-ate had a single spike bolted at its centre above the village mark; the other had two spikes bolted on opposite sides of the metal band.

In a split second, one catapulted the other into the air and they encircled their prey with a wicked spiked chain connected between the gauntlets. Before the shocked party could react, they had to watch as their two jounin-sensei were torn apart into several chunks of bloody flesh and body parts with a sharp tug of the chain. "One down" said the attacker with the left claw, his voice sounding almost robotic through the mask covering his mouth.

What happened next would etch itself into the minds of those present for some time to come. From the hiding spot they had moved to after their Kawarimi had been torn apart, Kakashi and Kurenai watched the events unfold. "Now you shall witness Naruto's true abilities" Kakashi said to his comrade. Whether he achieved it on his own or with his help, Kakashi couldn't help but feel pride in his student's skills. A shurikan flew through the air, catching the chain link and embedding itself in a tree. It was quickly followed by a well placed kunai that hit the tree through the hole in the shurikans centre, pinning the shurikan and the chain in place (Cue drum style anime music - author).

Sakura, Sasuke, Kiba, Shino, Tazuna, Soun and the nearby Hinata all turned to see the origin of the projectiles. They saw Naruto unclipping one of his scroll pouches, flip the scroll into the air, bite his thumb, catch the scroll and unravel it before running his bloody thumb along the inside of the scroll. There was a large poof of smoke that momentarily obscured Naruto from their view, but when the smoke cleared they gasped at the sight they saw. Naruto stood still with a determined look on his face, holding in his left hand the tsuba of a katana, and in his right was the unsheathed katana glinting in the light.

It was 3 shaku long (a shaku being the traditional measurement for a Japanese blade, equalling 30cm or one foot) with a simple circular hand guard gilded with silver edges. Its handle was bound with orange dyed leather and there was an orange horsetail pommel at the end. Etched into the base of the blade were the kanji Wood, Brother, Storm and Namikaze in that order, but these characters were so small they couldn't see them from the distance they were at.

'My first real battle as a ninja. Time to put my theory to the test' he thought to himself, looking at the sword he held in his hands. He had initially decided to take this weapon on a whim, thinking it would be useful at some time. But during a discussion with his father, he learnt that the katana meant so much more.

**Flashback **

"_So I'm taking scrolls on the Aburame, Uchiha, Hyuga and Inuzuka clans just in case I need to learn more about them. Y'know so I can factor them into my strategies if something were to happen out on the mission" Naruto told his father, just holding in the excitement he was feeling._

"_Hm, not bad thinking son. Also helps to know what sort of capabilities your friends have if you were to face them in the chuunin exams" he replied._

"_Say what. Chuunin exams, what're you talking about now old man" Naruto asked accusingly. He had quickly learnt about his fathers annoying habit of dropping ambiguous comments into a conversation before 'forgetting' what he had said._

"_Oh nothing, nothing. So did you take anything else from 'The Vault' that I should know about?"_

"_Oh yeah. There was this old looking katana that was in the weapons room. I thought it looked cool since it was mounted away from the others in a glass cabinet"_

_At this Minato bristled and once again he went instantly from 'happy dad' to 'serious father'. "Did this katana have a tsuba that was black and silver with the image of a stormy sea carved into its sides. Also, its handle is bound in orange dyed leather…"_

"…_and there is this orange horsetail pommel on the end. That's weird, you know about it dad?"_

"_Naruto. That blade was first forged by my grandfather, your great grandfather during the Second Great Shinobi war years before our time after the village was founded. It is the honour blade of our clan, and was sealed away by my father shortly after I was born. I don't know why though, but the very fact that you chose it seemingly at random throws so many questions into the air" he stopped and resumed thinking._

"_So I should put it back right. Sacred is sacred and all that" Naruto asked his dad. Before it had been a simple cool weapon that he might use some day on a mission, but now for Naruto it was another important link to his clan and the past that he was still dying to know about._

_Minato, noticing his son's quiet demeanour shook his head and made shooing motions with his hand. "Nah, whatever was the reason it doesn't matter now. Besides, I'll bet Pop'll be alright with you using it, you are the last or our line and all"_

**End Flashback **

'My great-grandfather years and years ago forged this blade for war. To think that he and other members of my clan before me held it as I do now, it is a humbling thought. I feel honoured to be able wield it again, and I shall not let the skill that went into creating it go to waste. Although I have never practised using it, or even performed any sword exercises bar reading the kenjutsu scrolls, I need this blade to defeat these assassins. I just hope my idea works' Naruto thought. Tightening his hold on the leather grip and charged at the two stuck ninja. Meanwhile after getting over their initial alarm, the other genin present had started to form their own defensive formations.

Kiba tossed a hyorogan into Akamaru's mouth, causing the small puppy to grow slightly larger and more menacing as its fur turned red. He took one himself and performed his Shikyaku no Jutsu, hunching over onto the ground like a dog. His nails grew to resemble claws and his face appeared to if it was possible become more feral as his incisors became more prominent.

Shino was already calling on his Kikai bugs from within his body, willing them to mass for an imminent swarm attack. Hinata had activated her Byakugan and slid into a shaky Juken stance. Her lip was trembling and her body shook, but then she looked over to Naruto and remembered his words 'if you doubt yourself in anything, you have already lost. Nothing is more damaging than uncertainty. Naruto-kun, I will be strong…thank you' and her demeanour did a complete 180, the fear in her eyes swallowed by her resolve. She moved to take a defensive position beside Sakura in front of Tazuna and Soun, who were in a state of sheer panic. Sakura was holding a kunai in front of her waist at an angle, and looked over to Hinata. Receiving a nod from the girl, she returned the gesture and steeled herself for any movement.

Sasuke meanwhile, after getting over Naruto's quick reaction ('I was going to do that' were his thoughts on the matter) disappeared and reappeared crouched balancing on the assassins heavy gauntlets. Both of them tugged at the chain but it wouldn't give, 'Damn its stuck' one thought until they sensed a familiar surge of chakra and smiled within their breathing apparatus. Their brother was making an appearance.

They spoke to each other briefly. "Meizu, kill the old ones. I'll…" said the one pronged shinobi.

"…kill the brats" finished Meizu. "Gozu, you…"

"…get all the fun. I know" finished Gozu.

Sasuke gripped the gauntlets and kicked out, knocking back the heads of the enemy shinobi back sharply. The momentum broke the chain from its point of origin at the inside of the clawed gauntlets, but it also freed the assassins attached to it. They separated immediately and began running for in opposite directions, one towards Naruto and the other at Tazuna and Soun. Kiba responded by leaping at the one heading towards Naruto, Akamaru with him. He twisted his body mid-air until he was spinning fast like a drill and cried out his attack "Tsuga!". Gozu dodged with ease and turned towards the new threat, leaping with his claw held high above his head. He was intercepted by three shurikan from Shino, and twisted in mid-air to land safely. He found himself amidst a swarm of bugs, but paid them no heed as he charged at the kid with the glasses.

Meanwhile, Sasuke had moved in front of Meizu with a determined look on his face. There was no way Naruto would show him up here, but where did he get that sword from. Putting his questions out of his mind, he flashed through the seals for his favourite attack Katon! Gokakyu no Jutsu. Breathing in deep, he exhaled and sent a huge plume of fire at his enemy. When he finished, he saw a charred body and smiled, his first kill as a shinobi and before Naruto too. But the smile soon faded when the corpse collapsed into a pool of water and he felt a thud into his stomach. 'What jutsu was that, some kind of Bunshin or a substitution' he thought, as the very much alive Meizu back handed him with his metal gauntlet sending him flying across to hit a tree.

Naruto watched and started charging towards Hinata and Sakura, who looked with fear as the deadly Mist-nin advanced on them. Hinata picked up a briefest flicker in the trees with her Byakugan, and followed that flicker until it appeared, straight in front of Naruto. She wanted to cry out to him a warning, or move to help, but she was unable to move from her position else she would jeopardise the safety of their clients and the mission would fail. But then she remembered whom she was worried about. If anyone could handle this newcomer, it would be Naruto.

Naruto moved as fast as possible, but when he felt a flicker of movement in front of him he stopped and skidded to a halt, his feet kicking up some dirt with the friction. 'Who the…shit it's that third one from before' he thought, and it was that third assassin he had sensed earlier with his 'chakra senses'. This one was different from the others though. Compared to the newcomer, their killing intent was like a drop of water beside the ocean. The new enemy was tall, about six foot one and clad from head to toe in a black/blue full body ninja suit. Armour was present on his shoulder, forearms and legs; simple plates of blue-ish metal but studded with wicked metal spikes. His unruly mane of black hair grew past his waist, pulled back by his Kirigakure hitai-ate to reveal his face.

Two thick scars crossed his face in an X running across his nose and eyes from temple to cheek, they looked almost self-inflicted. His eyes were what really scared Naruto. The madness in the twin clawed assassins was nothing to the insane look reflected in this mans dark green pools. Fingerless gloves which had two blades mounted on the backs covered his hands, and in his hands he held two wicked looking curved blades. Each weapons edge had a purple sheen to it, and every now and then a drip fell from the tips. 'Poison' thought Naruto, and he cursed. From the looks of it, the new guy was either a high level chuunin or a jounin which meant trouble for him.

"Care to dance prey?" the assassin asked, cocking his head to one side. His voice was deep and guttural, like a beast that had been taught to speak as humans do. It went right through Naruto, who was routed to the spot with fear. Then his eyes glanced to his friends, and he saw how they each bravely fended off the other two enemies. Naruto swallowed his fear and charged at the new enemy, his family katana held out at the ready. The foe responded in kind by leaping forwards at Naruto with his blades held above his head ready to slice through his prey. They went down in a fast arc, but were blocked.

Naruto held the katana with both hands and used it to horizontally block the attack. In his mind, Naruto's brain was replaying the information from the kenjutsu scrolls that it had absorbed and converting those crystal clear memories into signals to send to the muscles and nerves. So whatever it replayed, Naruto's body did as if by instinct. This was the major trump card he had been working on late at night, instant muscle memory. He knew his brain gave him a photographic memory, so he trained himself to recall information at speed. The way he did this was by reading a scroll on something simple, then copying it onto a blank scroll without looking at the paper.

Not once had he managed to produce perfect copies by trusting his movement to the signals his brain was sending throughout his body. He hadn't quite perfected it to the standard he hoped for, but it was damn near close. The only problem was that it was draining to a certain degree, and in order for it to work properly his body needed to be able to handle the actions demanded by the brain. Then there were the doubts on whether or not he would use this ability in live combat situations, but he didn't have time to now to worry about that because his theory was proving to be successful. This gave him a whole new edge when fighting, he liked it.

Pushing up from his body using the weight of his waist and legs for the drive, Naruto knocked the blades away and began preparing himself. Naruto began playing out katana attacks in his mind and in a second his body began to react naturally to the stimulus from his brain. 'Slash, duck, block, jab, slash, jab, block…' his mind was fully bent on the crossing of swords with his foe. They continued for what felt like an epic few minutes exchanging attacks with rapid succession. Whilst Naruto's moves were controlled and performed with textbook efficiency his opponents moves were wild and random, and he had the advantages of two blades to Naruto's one along with the strength that only bezerkers could have. From their watching position, Kakashi and Kurenai watched the confrontation with avid interest. "You see Kurenai, this is Naruto's hidden skill. Every time I see him he has something new to surprise me with"

"Yes…" Kurenai mumbled, her attention torn between the duel Naruto was having and the performance of her own team. She was especially concerned about Hinata, who was defending the bridge builder and his half-brother. "…should we move in now?"

"Hmmm, yes. They've had their fun, now its time for some answers. Take out the pair with the claws first, then the swordsman. We'll both need to attack that one, we outrank him in skill but his mad strength alone could overpower us if we're not careful"

"Hai" Kurenai said, and began casting her favourite genjutsu, Magen Jubaku Satsu on the assassin attacking Hinata and Sakura as Kakashi moved to intercept the shinobi fighting with Kiba and Shino.

Meanwhile, Naruto's fight with the third assassin was taking a turn for the worse. The half-crazed Kirigakure shinobi was gradually wearing him down, attacking in a frenzy of wide strikes and lunges each aiming to hack off limbs or skewer him through the gut. His arms were tiring and keeping up the constant stream of information from brain to body was starting to give him a headache. He needed to end this quickly, but how. Then his senses alerted him to the movement of two familiar chakra signatures, and he smiled.

'Better late than never sensei' he thought, blocking a sweeping crescent movement from his enemies' swords. His opponent stopped and watched in what appeared to be horror and anger as Gozu was knocked down by a wicked clothesline from Kakashi before being swarmed by Shino's Kikia bugs, which proceeded to eat away at his chakra until there was only the bare minimum for him to stay alive. Meizu had stopped still and collapsed when a fountain of blood erupted from his arm, clearly under the effects of a genjutsu.

The ninja snarled and disappeared. If they had the nerve to strike down his brethren, then he would strike down theirs. He moved faster than the jounin could follow and appeared before a startled Hinata. "Hello pretty" he growled, bringing his swords down to cleave her in to pieces. But he found himself blocked.

Naruto had seen his movement, if only barely by the flicker of wind that followed it, and knew that both Kurenai and Kakashi still busy subduing the other pair so wouldn't make it in time. The others were all in various stages of fatigue from defending themselves, so they could do nothing either. If he didn't act Hinata would be killed in a second; he had to protect his friend. So he deactivated the pressure placed on his limbs by his chakra weights and moved faster than he believed he could.

His body screamed in protest as his limbs moved in a blur, putting him between Hinata and the assassin, bringing his right arm up to block the one of the swords with his katana. The other he was blocking with his left arm, the long sword biting deep into his flesh causing Naruto to flinch from the pain. The assassin looked puzzled when he saw the whelp he had been playing with appears before his eyes, faltering for a millisecond. "Don't you touch her you filthy fuck" Naruto growled, and for a moment the tall kiri-shinobi could swear the boys eyes had turned from their previous blue colour to a dark red, the pupils turning into animalistic slits.

Pushing the pain as far from his mind as he could Naruto pulled his arm away from the swords edge with a tug, blood shooting out of the wound with the release of pressure. Pushing away the other scimitar-like sword with his katana, Naruto shifted his weight onto his left leg and moved into a half crouch before rolling forward and bringing his blade in a horizontal slash at his foe's exposed right thigh. There was some grim satisfaction when he felt the katana's edge slice through muscle and tissue and grate slightly against the bone within, blood spraying from the gash in a spurt of crimson. Naruto took a second to pause from his crouched position and was amazed to see that the whole world around him moving extremely slowly, like everything was wading around in treacle. But he didn't have time to stare; he needed to finish this fight NOW.

Pivoting on the ball of his right foot Naruto twirled in a tight circle swinging his blade in an arc with him holding it tight to his body. When he neared the end of the circle he released the blade and brought it vertically upwards towards the shinobi's still outstretched arm. There was another moment of grim satisfaction when the katana forged by his great-grandfather cleaved through the arm unhindered by muscle or bone, severing the limb completely. This elicited a howl of pain from the crazed shinobi, his mind unable to process this new and terrible feeling. The stump spurted a fountain of blood that splattered forwards, some splashing onto Hinata who whimpered in terror. From her point of view, she had seen a shape appear to guard her that she thought was Naruto, but it was too fast for her to be sure. Then the man who had been attempting to kill her cried out in pain, a horrible ghastly sound that emanated from deep within his body and tore through his throat into the air. His eyes seemed to almost bulge out of their sockets as his hand moved to cover the stump in some feeble attempt at stopping the bleeding.

Naruto by now knew the fight was over. He had removed his opponent's superior speed by striking his leg and his superior attacking abilities by cutting off his arm. But for some reason that he couldn't find, he didn't stop. In the future, whenever he came to reflect on this moment of his life he always reasoned that what he had done was due to the adrenaline fuelled battle of life or death raging around him clouding his better judgement? But this would always be accompanied by the small, and wholly more sinister voice from the depths of his soul, telling him it was because he enjoyed it, he craved the slaughter, the challenge of combat.

From within the bowels of its prison, the Kyuubi no Kitsune gurgled horribly at the emotions it was sensing from its host. _'That's it gaki, feed your anger. Slaughter them, make their blood flow like a rich wine…allow me to…help you'_ and with a simple thought sent a pulse of its tainted chakra through the chakra coils of its jailer. There was a small rise in killer intent that was felt by all of the present company, making them feel nauseous and weak when put against the raw bloodlust.

Ducking under the remains of the severed arm, Naruto loosened his grip on the hilt to he could move the katana easier. Pivoting on his right heel, Naruto spun 360 degree's, angling his blade high so Hinata would not be caught by its deadly edge. This move brought him momentarily parallel with his enemy, and due to their close proximity Naruto found himself staring straight into the mans eyes, and time seemed to slow down for the pair. Madness, pain, anger and fear were all present, but also a sort of calm. They both knew what was going to happen, and Naruto swore he saw the man smile and nod at him, as if he were acknowledging his fate. Bringing the blood stained katana in one final horizontal arc, Naruto returned the nod and mouthed three words "Be at peace". Then time accelerated back to normal and Naruto's blade cleaved the shinobi's head from his shoulders.

For a long time, Naruto stood there in front of Hinata breathing hard. The adrenaline having by now wore off; his body made its protests known to his brain. His left hand began to twitch and spasm uncontrollably, causing him to loose his hold on the hilt of his katana, which dropped to the ground with a ring. 'Damn poison, my adrenaline must have accelerated its course' he thought, before his mind awoke to what had just happened.

"I won. I…killed him. Why did I kill him, he was defenceless so why did I kill him? WHY DID HE DIE?" he shouted out loud, clutching his wounded arm tight. He then heard a whimper, and then the sound of crying. Whirling around, his eyes widened. There was Hinata, he had forgotten she was there. The girl was staring at Naruto, fear clearly seen in her eyes. The entire upper left side of her body was covered with blood, as was her pale face. Tears were creating a small line down her face, washing away some of the blood. But it was the fear that Naruto was really disturbed by, but who wouldn't be scared of him.

Lifting his head around in the direction of the others, Naruto saw that the whole group was staring at him as well, they had all witnessed what he had done. There was fear in their eyes as well (with the exception of Shino because you couldn't see his eyes, but the difference in posture gave it away for Naruto) varying from person to person. Sakura has the same look as Hinata, Kiba and Shino had a sort of grudging respect in their eyes as well. The adults were also gazing at him with awe, Tazuna and Soun mostly showing disgust. 'How can they expect kids like these to commit such acts of bloodshed' Soun thought darkly.

Naruto looked down at his feet unable to look the others in the eyes. He suddenly felt dirty, and no amount of cleaning would wash away this filth. His eyes drifted to the area around his feet and he saw the severed head staring back at him, the assassin's eyes already beginning to cloud over. Naruto felt bile rise in his throat at the sight, and he closed his eyes tight. He then felt a hand on his shoulder, and he opened his eyes to see Kakashi looking at him with what he could only think to be concern. "Its alright Naruto. Everyone's fine, you can calm down…" the jounin said slowly. Kurenai had taken Hinata to the side to clean the girl up and comfort her after tying up the unconscious shinobi.

Naruto then winced when the slight throbbing coming from his arm multiplied tenfold into a steady stabbing pain. Kakashi looked down at the gash in his arm, and scowled at the sight. The whilst the cut itself was fairly clean, only about an inch or so deep with nothing torn away, the tissue around it had begun to turn a puffy white colour like spoilt milk, the veins appearing visible tinged with black. The blood coming out of the wound though not as fast as before showed no signs of stopping. "Poison, but you knew that didn't you Naruto" the jounin remarked before making an almost sad sigh.

"Looks like were going to have to call off the mission. If the poisonous wound on Naruto's arm is left any longer without treatment then the poison will spread too far for recovery to be possible, so it takes priority"

There was a profound moment of silence before each genin seemed to in their own way slump in defeat. Shino's head was inclined forwards slightly and his shoulders were less rigid. Kiba swore loudly and Akamaru yelped at his side. Sasuke scowled, his mind still reeling from the image of Naruto beheading the shinobi, who was clearly more skilled than the one he had been fighting. Sakura, who had already been suffering a crisis of self before the mission had looked to it as a way of giving her time to think away from the distractions of the village, so was dismayed at the thought of returning the way she was. And Hinata, well after Naruto's display in defending her just wanted to curl up in a ball and be left alone. The battle had scared her, but she had steeled herself with the thought of proving herself before Naruto. But when confronted with the third enemy shinobi she had frozen, and now Naruto-kun was in pain because of her.

Naruto sensed the feelings from his fellow genin, which acted as fuel for the fire of his morose attitude. Not only had he taken a life in such a superfluous and callous way, but now he had jeopardised this mission that everyone had been counting on in one way or the other. Then he saw the katana he had dropped to the ground. During the battle, he had been fearless with that weapon. All doubts had been cut from his mind, he had been bent on solely defeating the enemy that had threatened the lives of his friends. They had all fought as well, battling foe's who were at higher levels than they were. His visage went grim as with his still movable right arm he pulled out a kunai from his holder.

With a final look at the reflective edge of the knife, Naruto reversed it in his good hand and stabbed hard into the wound on his left arm, startling all of the bystanders. He gritted his teeth in pain as he slowly dragged the knife through the wound and into his flesh, pushing slightly deeper to create fresh blood flow. 'On this wound I swear, that never again shall I fail in the protection of those I call friend. Never again shall an enemy come into such a position as today, I will not allow it to occur' he swore in his mind. The red vital fluid began pouring out of his arm splattering on the ground and mingling with the blood already spilled from the missing-nins corpse. With it came a blackish fluid that was obviously the poison that had been smeared on the shinobi's swords. Naruto then took a bandage from his hip pouch, wound it tight around the wound before taking a deep haggard breath and looking at the shocked group nearby.

"Uzumaki Naruto, reporting fit for mission sensei"

Everyone quickly recovered when they heard Sakura shout at the boy, "Naruto what the hell is wrong with you. First you scare us by getting yourself poisoned and then you stab yourself. What are you some kind of masochist or something." She had needed that, some way to vent her frustrations.

Naruto just sighed at moved to pick up his katana from the ground. He walked over to the group and propped himself against a tree, cleaning the blood and dirt from the blade with a rag and some water from his canteen. When he saw that everyone present was still watching him carefully, he just smiled a goofy smile and said "Don't mind me, just cleaning away here."

This complete 180 from 'serious enough to stab himself' to 'just cleaning my lethal weapon' earned an indignant face fault from the gathered throng of adults and genin. Picking himself up, Kakashi turned his gaze to Tazuna and Soun, who both jumped upright and became stiff as posts. "Now, we need answers. With our little poison problem...dealt with...you both need to explain why those shinobi were after the both of you. This event pushes the mission up to a B-rank, an A-rank if they were of jounin level. Why did you not inform you were targets at the very beginning? By not doing so you placed us all in a danger that could have been avoided."

Tazuna stepped forwards and was about to speak, but found his mouth covered by Soun. "I'll handle this for the moment brother. Kakashi-san, Kurenai-san I am sorry. We only applied for a C-rank mission because that was all we could afford. Our country is very poor, and were sorry for any trouble we may have caused you" and at that he hit Tazuna on the back.

"Uh...yeah. What he said...sorry" Tazuna mumbled, suddenly wishing he hadn't drank so much sake the night before as he felt a migraine coming on out of nowhere.

"That's not all, is it" said Shino in his stoic monotone.

Sasuke momentarily shifted his gaze from Naruto to Shino 'I was going to say that. Why is everyone stealing my damn thunder' he thought moodily before adding his own contribution to the discussion in an attempt to salvage his precious ego. Getting smacked into a tree by the clawed Kiri-nin had knocked his pride down a peg, so he needed to raise himself up again. "Those three shinobi were clearly of Kirikagure no Sato. Why would they attempt to assassinate two bridge builders from another country whose actions have no effect on their land and village whatsoever"

"Yeah that's right. Who'd want a couple of old geezers dead?" added Kiba, who was tying a bandage around Akamaru's leg. During this small part of the discussion, Hinata slowly moved over to Naruto and offered him some medical cream.

"F…for the wound on your arm. It…will help it heal" she managed to stutter. Naruto accepted the small jar with a smile and thanked Hinata for her clever thinking, causing a crimson blush to flood the girl's entire face. She then backed away a little and looked away into the group. But then she briefly turned her head in Naruto's direction and gasped. The deep wound on his arm was already starting to heal. The blood had stanched itself and was drying rapidly, and the edges of the wound were already knitting themselves together like two pieces of fabric being pulled together by a zip. And when Naruto smeared some of the cream over the gash the flesh began to sizzle producing a small amount of thin mist, and when it cleared it was almost three quarters of the way healed. She looked away thinking 'How can Naruto-kun heal so fast. Is it a kekkai genkai of some kind that the jounin are not aware of? What could it be.'

Back to the little discussion taking place, Tazuna looked down ashamedly, his face becoming dark with sadness. "Gatou" was the only word he said.

"You mean Gatou, of the Gatou Corporation," said Kurenai

"Yes. About a year ago, Gatou came to our country under the pretence of a business venture. But then the violence began to occur. First he killed a dear friend of ours Mizurasen who was the head of one of the largest shipping and fishing groups in our home town. Then he moved on fast using that same company as a base, and within a week of arriving Gatou had taken control of out countries entire shipping industry putting a stranglehold on the lifeblood of our island nation. The only thing he fears is the bridge my brother-in-law is building and for which I am supplying the materials. With it we will have a means of bringing in trade and raising our nation out of poverty forever," said Soun.

"Gatou is a ruthless man, who uses hired thugs and teams of outcast shinobi to enforce his will. While on the surface of things his business appears to be legitimate, beneath that thin cover is loan sharking, drugs, contraband and any other illegal trade you can think of" added Tazuna.

"So the ninja who attacked us were missing-nin under the employ of this Gatou" Sakura asked, gesturing briefly to the two tied up unconscious Kirikagure ninja and even briefer to the headless corpse.

"Yes…" Tazuna said before his eyes adopted a very sneaky looking light "…but if you want to leave we understand. We'll probably be demmmrrph." He tried to finish his sentence but found himself unable to talk with Soun's hand over his mouth.

"Let's stop your sob story before it begins eh brother. Remember what happened the last time Tsunami-chan found out you used her and Inari-kun as a means of getting your own way" Soun chided before turning back to the group. "If you wish to leave us because of our deception we will understand perfectly."

Tazuna pushed the man away and huffed indignantly, but backed away when the memory of a frying pan connecting with his skull pushed into the forefront of his mind. It made him shudder in fear, his daughter could be downright scary sometimes, it was a trait she got from her mother.

"I say we continue with the mission and with guarding them both," Naruto said out loud, raising some glances. "They may have lied to us, but isn't it the duty of a shinobi through to the end. And from what they just told us, we owe it to them to at least give them the benefit of the doubt and help them."

This raised a smile from Kakashi who turned to Kurenai and said softly but with deadly seriousness so the others would not hear "That is the new Naruto I have witnessed. He is no longer the idiotic prankster we all used to know by reputation alone. He has 'graduated' into a ninja"

Kurenai merely nodded before calling her team over to one side for a general inspection and inventory check. Naruto, when nobody was looking finished cleaning his katana and resealed it within his the scroll he had prepared to hold it. Letting out a long sigh, he began rewinding the bandages he had pulled down to apply Hinata's medicine cream. He made a mental note to ask the girl how she made the stuff, it worked really well to numb the throbbing sensations he had felt from it before.

His eyes drifted over the wound and widened slightly when he saw it had almost completely healed. The skin had near completely closed by now, leaving the area a pinkish colour like fresh scar tissue. 'Damn fox' he thought to himself, finishing rewinding the bandages to hide the 'wound' from the others. A small rustling in the tree's caught his attention, but it was only momentary so he let it pass for now.

**Later **

After a ten minute break, the group left continuing on their way, leaving the two Kiri-nin tied to the tree. The only mark of the violent and brief battle were the gouges in the tree bark, some disturbed or scorched earth and the cold headless corpse of Naruto's first kill. From the shadows a dark figure emerged. A distinct female voice spoke across the clearing, waking the unconscious pair of ninja tied to the tree. "Gozu, Meizu. You have failed," she said, speaking neither a question nor a statement of fact in a feminine monotone.

The pair who for most of their lives had been known as the Demon brothers closed their eyes and waited for the inevitable. If he had sent her, it could only mean one outcome. The mysterious assassin raised her weapon high and struck. But the blow was not one to end their lives, and they found their bonds neatly cut by the razor edge.

As if knowing the pair's thoughts, the newcomer answered their unspoken question. "Why are you both still alive? Why has he spared you? Its simple, you are still useful to him…" she indicated with her other hand to the corpse of the third ninja "…there lies your 'brother', killed by the blonde Konoha shinobi. What will you do now?" There was a hint of amusement and pity in her voice, but the pair was too busy looking at the corpse to notice it.

If it were possible for them, Gozu and Meizu would have cried. There before them lay the body of their 'older brother', who though he had never been blood related was the closest thing they had ever had that came close to family. Kyouran was his name, and ever since that day he had been with them always, guiding them and teaching them the necessary skills so that they might survive in the harsh world around them. Theirs was a sad story to tell.

The pair had been born twins from the same womb, Gozu coming one minute before the younger Meizu, and they had initially grown up under the protection and loving care of their mother's watchful eye. They had always done everything together, playing and exploring their home and birthplace, a small village somewhere in Mizu no Kuni that they couldn't remember the location of. But their father, a petty thug who worked for a local Yakuza boss ended their idyllic life abruptly whilst in the grip of a drunken rage. They were only six when they watched their mother drown in her own blood with her throat torn open, a sight they would never forget.

Their previously innocent minds shattered into pieces, and in a mad rage they double teemed their father and broke his neck with a piece of rope (and thus creating their favourite assassination technique). For what felt for them to be an eternity they wandered the streets of their town homeless yet driven by an insane rage, killing people at random for reasons as small as a wrong look in their direction before moving on elsewhere to avoid repercussions. Then they met nii-san, and their lives once again regained some small measure of meaning.

**Flashback **

_Two young boys wandered an empty street, searching for a place to sleep for the night. The moon was full in the sky, and the mid-winter chill was seeping into their bones and robbing them of their feeble strength. From their appearance they looked to be only around seven years of age, each holding a piece of rope and a knife between them like it was the last thing they would ever be doing._

"_I'm cold brother" said one of them quietly, his voice quivering from his shaking mouth._

"_I know Meizu. We just need to find a knew spot for tonight, after that store owner forced us out of that warehouse of his" Gozu replied to his 'younger' brother, trying to reassure him in any small way._

"_Hee hee, wasn't it fun cutting his belly open like that Gozu" Meizu replied, smiling a dark sinister smile that spread across his face, a clear sign of bloodlust and madness barely contained within._

"_Yeah, that taught him a lesson" Gozu agreed, before spotting a large pile of trash down an alleyway. He pulled Meizu with him and ran towards it. "Look brother, fresh waste. That means we can eat AND sleep here tonight. It should be warm enough still to keep out the cold of the night, what luck eh?"_

_Meizu wasn't listening, he was too busy rummaging in the black bags looking for any small morsel of food. His eyes lit up when he felt something in his hands. "Look brother. Somebody's thrown out an unopened can of dog food" he said, laughing as he held up his prize for his twin to see._

"_Yeah. And look Meizu, its only been expired for twenty days and that means..."_

"_...it's not been a month so it's still good" they chorused, laughing to themselves in a rare moment of childlike happiness._

_Whilst Gozu worked at the lid with their knife, Meizu began making a makeshift bed using the bags of thrown out waste and rubbish. Sure it smelled a little, but they had been worse. The they heard a can clank down the street, and both turned with narrowed eyes to the source._

"_So I've finally found you." It was a man, a Kirikagure shinobi from his hitai-ate. He advanced down the streets slowly, savouring every step. It was a dead end so he knew they wouldn't be going anywhere. "You punks gave me quite the run around today, but now its over. That store owner, the one you disembowelled, that was my little brother. I happen to be visiting and what do I find? You took his life, and now his wife and my nephew are left with nothing. Their only choices now are to stay and be forced onto the streets, or have to move to Kirikagure and risk bandit attacks on the way there, all because of your bloodshed. So its only fair I return the favour and get revenge for my sibling" he said, taking out a kunai from his holster._

"_Leave us alone" Meizu shouted_

"_Yeah, go away or we'll gut you and break your neck like all the others" added Gozu, who had moved by his brother with the knife held forwards at their would-be attacker._

"_You think you little gaki could stand against me. I'm a chuunin of Kirikagure, set to become a member of the ANBU when I advance to jounin. You're feeble skills at slaughter pale in comparison to mine" he added with a grim chuckle. He moved to attack, but then froze. A trickle of blood dripped down his chin, and with a loud retching sound he coughed up blood splattering the alleyway in front of him. His eyes turned down in disbelief, and bugged at the sight of a sword tip protruding from his chest. "Wha...impossible. How could I be...impossible" he croaked, before with a wrench the sword was pulled out. With the release of pressure came the inevitable spurting of blood from the wound, and the chuunin groaned and collapsed in a heap amidst a growing pool of his vital fluids._

_The two brothers watched the spectacle with awe, and their eyes followed to the shadowy figure holding the bloody swords. "You should be more careful with who you kill, if you feel the bloodlust then i9ts best to concentrate on the homeless or destitute. They aren't missed."_

_Appearing before them was a tall, lanky boy of about ten years of age. His hair was slicked back into spikes with grease and blood, and his entire torso was bare and covered with the blood of the now dead chuunin. His face was twisted into an insane rictus of a smirk, with breaths coming out long and deep. His hands each held a wicked curved sword, seemingly made longer by the spindly length of his arms. To most people seeing this apparition would inspire fear and revulsion, but for the two half-mad brothers the older boy was the paragon of all they held to be great._

"_People are going to gather soon, drawn to the sounds of death like flies to gobbets of rotting flesh..." he said, looking at the corpse with obvious disgust. With a deep hacking sound he spat on the body, before continuing by indicating with his head "...follow me, I'll find us a place to stay" he finished. He then began moving slowly out of the alleyway, placing the blades in a cross on his shoulders for support. He paused for a moment "Kyouran...my name" and continued walking._

_The brothers looked hesitantly at each other, before nodding together and running after the older boy. "Wait up...nii-san" said Meizu quietly._

**End Flashback **

From that day they had always been together. They had enrolled together at the Kirikagure shinobi academy, where they met a boy named Momochi Zabuza, another who understood the roiling madness and bloody urges they each felt. They had killed together, and when Zabuza-san had asked them to follow him in his ill-fated coup detat they had accepted without question. But now it was over, now their older brother was dead. They approached the corpse and gazed painfully into its milky eyes.

"Brother, you shall..."

"...be avenged. We shall..."

"...hunt down the one responsible..."

"...and kill him" the pair intoned. They each bent down and pulled free their 'siblings' twin swords, the blades he had wielded since he was a youth. It was slightly difficult due to the rigamortis that was already setting into the limbs, less so with the severed limb but still noticeable. Gozu and Meizu held the swords in their free hands (the ones not covered by their gauntlets) and smiled. And with that final goodbye to their departed kindred, the pair departed with the mysterious female. For soon the hunter-nin would come to burn the body, just like they always did.

**Elsewhere **

"Your men failed" said a gruff yet greasy voice. This voice belonged to a short, mean looking man in a black suit. His hair was a dark blonde, his sneering face adorned with some small glasses and a perfectly formed moustache that seemed to add to the sleazy image. For this man was Gatou, the third richest man in the world and owner of the Gatou Shipping Corporation (among other less savoury groups and operations). He stood in a small room inside a massive bee hive like complex facing (with some small measure of fear, though he vainly tried to deny it) a heavily breathing figure that few had seen and lived to tell the tale.

Bloated by his arrogance Gatou continued "I pay top dollar for your services and now one of your 'elite shinobi' is dead, you're pathetic. The bridge builder and the developer are guarded by two, count that, two shinobi teams from Konohagakure. That makes two jounin, one that I hear is the so called Copycat Ninja Hatake Kakashi. What will you do hmmm? What will you do Zabuza?" he demanded.

The figure stirred, and moved slightly from out of the dark that was covering his features. With no effort whatsoever, he slowly swung forward a huge sword that almost completely covered the four foot gap between them, and held it horizontally with his one arm as it weighed nothing. "And don't even bother to worry yourself Gatou…" he answered in a deep, harsh tone of voice dripping in contempt "…with this zanbato, I shall kill the old men and any others who stand in my way"

This seemed to satisfy Gatou, who strode out of the room flanked by his bodyguards with the same cocksure attitude that he entered it with. A brief and small gust of wind got Zabuza's attention. "Tsugime, what did you learn?"

A middle sized teenage girl stepped out of the shadows. She was of a fair complexion with shoulder length white hair, green eyes and two red dots above her eyes close to her eyebrows. She was tall-ish, and wore a dark blue robe with white trimming, held taught against her body her piece of rope around her waist. Her body underneath the robe was bound with bandages around the chest, but was otherwise bare skin.

"They are nothing special. Other than the Copy-nin and the female jounin, the rest are simple genin. Their clans however raise some alarm, for there is a bug-clan member and a Hyuga among them. There was also a dark haired boy who had some small measure of skill, as well as…" she trailed off slightly at the end.

"As well as what Tsugime?" Zabuza asked, his curiosity momentarily piqued.

The girl hesitated "There was another. The one who killed Kyouran, a short blonde haired shinobi with whisker marks on his cheeks. It was he that stopped the Demon Brothers surprise assault, and could have killed them both if the dark haired one had not inadvertently freed them. He showed no hesitation in confronting and eventually killing Kyouran when his ally was threatened, even though it appeared to be both his first real battle and his first confirmed kill. I advise caution against that one, he is strong Zabuza-sensei"

"Heh, sounds like you've taken quite a shine to this one that you speak of. Do you want me to spare him? Maybe you want to keep him as a passing fancy or outlet or some kind" he jeered, and he chuckled when he saw the small blush light up the girl's pale cheeks.

She shook her head furiously at her sensei's jest, "No, not at all Zabuza-sensei. If it had not been for your orders to merely watch the encounter and gather information, I would have intervened and slaughtered them all myself" she said, trying to sound convincing with her feminine monotone.

"Don't I believe it. Very well then, I shall deal with them personally. Tsugime, you shall stay here and reign in the Demon brothers for the meantime. Haku shall accompany me to see what secrets there are to be gleaned from these so called bodyguards"

Tsugime nodded and faded into the shadows. Another form emerged from the other side of the room before Zabuza. "What do you think Haku?" Zabuza asked to the newcomer.

A young teenager (whose gender could not be easily distinguished) dressed in the same dark blue robes as Tsugime looked at his teacher and master. He/she wore his/her hair in a bun, his/her skin complexion, facial features and timbre of voice suggested that he/she was female but the lines of distinction were so blurred that he/she could either be a very feminine boy or a slightly masculine girl.

"It will be…different Zabuza-san. I would suggest that you don't get too cocky and heed Tsugime-chan's words"

Zabuza scoffed "Duly noted, but don't believe yourself so high as to tell me what to do Haku"

"Well you did ask for my opinion" Haku replied, enjoying the teasing she gave him.

"That I did. Hm, this will be fun. We move to intercept at sunrise, I shall attack them once they have entered the borders of this pitiful country" Zabuza said, before laughing out loud to himself. The laughter echoed beyond the large spherical compound and into the woods beyond it, travelling far into the darkening night sky.

**Somewhere **

They had found a small closely guarded clearing roughly forty miles from the small roadside battleground, and the sun was beginning to set slowly in the sky so the jounins had made the signal for everyone to set up camp for the night. A certain blonde haired ninja couldn't help but shiver slightly as he pitched up his tent. 'Something's coming, something terrible' Naruto thought forebodingly.

He looked up from his task at everyone around him. They were all pairing up with their own into two man tents, helping each other set them up to decrease the speed. Hinata was sharing a tent with Sakura and Kiba with Shino. Kakashi was in the tent with Tazuna and Soun, much to the mans chagrin after Kurenai refused point blank to allow him and his perverted books anywhere near her whilst she slept.

That left Naruto and Sasuke sharing a tent, with Kurenai sleeping on her own. Naruto was somewhat annoyed at the thought of being within three feet of Sasuke for an extended period of time, but managed to let it slide on the count that it was only for one night. A single night of his life, he could live with that. But the Uchiha however was absolutely livid, the thought of being near his unofficial nemesis sent the prodigies blood boiling.

He still couldn't forget the seeming ease with which the blonde dobe had taken the bells from Kakashi, especially when he could not with all the skill his blood gave him. It was an impossible idea to contemplate, so in order to vent Sasuke had retired to a section of woodland away from the group to practice jutsu from his clan's secret scrolls. Today was the turn of Katon! Hosenka, a fire jutsu that sent small balls of flame at the enemies instead of a single blast of incinerating heat.

After everyone finished with their tents, along with setting up a small fire and gathering water and forest food like berries and such to supplement the rations provided for their missions they all settled down for the night. The two jounins decided to rotate watches until the mornings with Kakashi starting off first, since they were more experienced than their genin charges and could therefore hold off any intruders easier. All the others retired after eating their meals, Sasuke an hour or so later even though he had missed the meal altogether.

But Kakashi did not find himself alone in his vigil. Naruto, unable to sleep just sat and gazed into the fire. Although he kept it hidden away from the group so as not to cause them any worry, he was still deeply disturbed by his actions earlier on when they had been under attack. For most of the time this worked, but the small change in his behaviour did raise the suspicions of the two jounins and one timid Hyuga heiress. The former because of their years of experience in looking 'beneath the beneath' in their lives as shinobi, and the latter because of the many long hours she spent watching the boy from a distance.

Kakashi walked over to the quiet boy and took a seat beside him, turning his eyes to the fire. "It had to happen sooner or later. Every shinobi kills eventually, its a fact of life for us, our living is based upon it" he eventually said. Although he couldn't see directly, he knew he had got the boys attention.

"Everyone is like this when they take their first life, and we each remember the experience till our dying days. I can recall mine even now. I was almost half your age, graduating from the Academy after seven months of being enrolled by my parents. It was my third C-rank, and since I was such a young genin I had a jounin 'babysitter' accompany me. We were supposed to gather intelligence on an extended mission held by some shinobi from Kumogakure no Sato. We were ambushed, much like today except it was raining at the time. It's always raining at those times..." he added morosely before continuing with his story.

"...they attacked us, and we were both forced to defend ourselves. I took my first life by slashing a kunai across his back and driving it into the mans upper vertebrae. Not as grisly as yours, but still something none the less. I didn't sleep for three weeks, and vomited sometimes when I recalled the moment. But it faded, and I moved on. Its something we have to do, we cannot allow ourselves to be confused by the dark side of our work. It is the fate of all that take up our way of life" he finished, turning his head slightly to wait for any response from the silent blonde.

Naruto was silent for several long minutes, before speaking so quietly it was almost inaudible to the older mans ears. "I can still feel it, in my mind. Under my skin, the revulsion of it all. My blade slicing through his flesh, his muscle and bone with ease like, for lack of a better term, a knife through butter. First his arm to stop his attacks and eliminate the advantage. I could have stopped but, I didn't. I didn't stop, and then I cut off his head. He was defenceless and I cut off his head like it was nothing..." he chuckled softly "...it was so easy too, like walking up a flight of steps or some other ingrained reflex action. That's what scares me a little. But what scared me more, was that I actually enjoyed it. Something deep within me enjoyed watching my weapon severe his limbs and soak the ground with his blood. It was...an awful feeling, bestial but enticing at the same time"

"The Kyuubi" Kakashi said out loud. He knew the others were all asleep, he would have sensed their movements if they were still awake, so he could at the very least speak the demons name out loud.

"Yeah, the bastard fox. Those were my thoughts too. I just hope that this kitsune's mind isn't merging with mine, or something terrible like that" Naruto said wearily, some small sliver of fear present in the tone of his voice.

Kakashi laid a hand on Naruto's shoulder, startling the boy a little. He smiled genuinely beneath his mask at looked the boy in the eyes. "There's no need to worry Naruto. The seal keeping the Kyuubi within you was created by the Yondaime, the greatest seal master our village has ever seen. He would have taken every precaution against every out come, so rest assured that nothing shall happen to you whilst his craftsmanship stays intact. And as for your anxieties over what happened today, just give it time. For people like us it's a curse of sorts. The other side of skill, the power over life and death, the ability to snuff someone out like a candle."

"People like us?" Naruto asked

"Uh huh, shinobi who have talent be it natural or worked for. Oh and just so you know, I've figured out how your getting so good so quickly" he said with some enjoyment, smiling at the boys sudden spluttering and warding gestures.

"How, how the hell did you find out" Naruto asked, his throat suddenly very dry.

"Well it was simple when I thought about it hard enough. You know the Kage Bunshin right? Well then, you must also know of the memory sharing abilities granted to somebody who uses the jutsu. Your just applying it to your training, having clones train with you to speed things up, hmmm?" he peered in closer till he was an inch from Naruto's white face. The boy breathed out a small sigh of relief; his big secrets were still safe. He suddenly felt very tired, and got up to make his way towards his shared tent. He paused in mid-step, before turning around to look his teacher in the eyes.

"Thanks sensei, I needed that. More than could ever know…and also, I'm sorry"

"For what?" Kakashi asked, a little bemused at the statement.

"When you snuck into my home and tried looking through my things, I was furious at you. It took all my self control to not at least attempt to kick you across the village and back, and I acted very cold instead. I am sorry for my behaviour, I was a dick. It was understandable on hindsight that you were curious." And with that he turned back around and bid the one-eyed jounin goodnight.

Kakashi sat and watched as Naruto disappeared into his tent and did up the zip entrance. He looked into the sky and smiled softly, his mind returning to happy memories from his childhood. "Minato-sensei, it seems like you chose a truly special successor. And I promise you I shall not fail in keeping him and his dream alive" before picking rummaging through his hip pouch and selecting one of his many volumes of Icha Icha Paradise to read. It was going to be a loooong night. He then heard a rustle of movement and a brief gasp, and turned to see the front of a tent move, the tent that Sakura and Hinata were sharing. 'Hinata…did she here all of that?'

**Author Notes **

Latest update, they are getting much quicker and a great deal easier. Since the purpose of updating my story was to bring the content of the earlier chapters up to the improved standard of these later ones, updating chapters like this one are quicker. I don't mean to sound vague, but nothing really needs to be done to them. It is so quick, that in some mad rush I edited this chapter in under an hour. Nothing much has really been done to it. The name Arashi has been changed to Minato, and some of the thicker paragraphs have been halved for easier reading (since I received several 'complaints' from readers who found it hard to keep on reading without a break for their eyes).

It is the 23/01/08 4:07pm. Two more chapters to go before the new one can be finished, cant wait…can you. Well I probably wont see any answers as of yet, since people haven't really reviewed on the updates. It'll be when the new chapter is in place that (hopefully) the deluge shall begin. Anyways, See Ya.

**Magen: Jubaku Satsu** - Demonic Illusion: Tree Bind Death

**Shikyaku no Jutsu** - Four Legs technique

**Tsuga** - Piercing Fang

**Mizu Bunshin** - Water Clone

**Katon! Hosenka** - Fire Style! Immortal Phoenix Fire

**Kirigakure no Sato** – the Village Hidden in the Mist

**Kumogakure no Sato** – the village Hidden in the Clouds


	8. Chapter 7: When Demons Clash

**Naruto Legacy of the Hokages**

**By Lysander45**

**Disclaimer:** I do not and never will own Naruto, no matter how much I want too. Any and all characters, jutsu and places that I create are mine; if you want to use them please ask permission.

" Speech

' Thoughts

() Jutsu translations/authors voice/usual use for brackets that I cannot be bothered to describe

Italic memories/writing/Spirit voice

Bold emphasis on word

… Pause during speech

**Chapter 7 – When Demons Clash**

The group awoke at the crack of dawn, rested yet still strangely tired from their conflict the previous day. Kurenai had later joined Kakashi in the watch, and the pair had discussed what had happened the previous day for the rest of the night. They knew that whoever had sent the trio of Kirigakure shinobi after them would send more, and these would not be chuunin levels like the ones before.

These would be jounin level nuke-nin of the worst calibre, made more dangerous because they knew whom the both of them were. As jounin of Konohagakure their names, status and pictures were automatically placed in the Bingo books of every village outside of Konoha, listed as potential figures for assassination in times of war or for a specific mission. They had their own of course, so if they encountered jounin then they too would know what they were up against rendering the point mute.

They moved with a sense of urgency, the carefree pace of the previous day gone. It didn't take them long, and within a few hours of 'walking' they had all met the boats Tazuna and Soun had arranged to meet them all. They moved across the short expanse of ocean using the small boat engine-propeller before switching to oars and barge poles to keep the level of noise to a minimum. Team Seven was in a boat with Tazuna, Team Eight in the other with Soun.

As they got closer and closer to the borders of the island nation, a thick blanket of fog descended upon them suddenly obscuring all vision beyond a couple of feet. But then, just like the fog in its sudden appearance loomed a large shape. As the shape became clearer, the denizens of Konoha gasped as they gazed upon the largest bridge they had ever seen (well Kakashi could honestly say he had seen bigger, but he decided to follow the others in their example).

It was a vast construct made from pure white stone carved in large seven by six-foot blocks, supported by equally massive galvanised steel girders. The bars also seemed to be at least undergoing the process of having waterproof anti-rust tar based fluid painted on them to further protect them from the crashing waves. No wonder the island was called Nami no Kuni; some of the crashing pushes of water reached heights of fifteen feet as they pounded the sides of the bridge, and the ocean around them all undulated like it were alive.

"Wow, look at the size of that thing Akamaru" Kiba half-shouted out loud, all orders of keeping quiet forgotten in his excitement. The small puppy barked in return before snuggling further into its master's jacket. Akamaru didn't like the ocean that much it seemed.

"Quiet you fool. Do you want to get us all killed?" whispered the man 'driving' Team Eight's boat. Even though it was a whisper, through the ominous silence the others all heard it too.

"Why aren't you using the engines instead of that barge pole? Don't we want to get onto land a quickly as possible?" asked Sasuke, his voice staying in an even monotone, his tone clearly reflecting how bored and frustrated he was.

"Quick means noisy and noisy means death. Gato has his men patrol these waters regularly to make sure nobody is getting out of the country to bring in anything. We've been bringing in food on boats lie this for a while, but the process is too slow and we don't bring in enough to support anyone. Hence the bridge. So for now we go slow and silent and stay alive" supplied Tazuna, his nervousness showing visibly as sweat trickled down his forehead despite the cool morning temperature.

A couple of minutes past and Naruto suddenly had an idea. "Kakashi-sensei..." Naruto said, giving the man a poke to get his attention "...I think it would be a good idea if I scout the landing sight. If I swim I can reach the shore before you all, and I will be less noticeable than a boat"

"Are you nuts dobe? You heard what the old man said; we can't go drawing attention to ourselves. Besides, the waters freezing and as I recall you sucked during the water lessons we had at the Academy" Sasuke said between gritted teeth. Ever since yesterday the blonde baka had been grinding him by ignoring all the blatant tares he had sent his way, and his killing of the enemy shinobi had also pissed him off because it meant that Naruto had killed before he did.

In reality if Sasuke took a moment to step back and look at his behaviour, he would notice that in the short space of time that they had spent as a team, he had come to view Naruto as his one true rival in life. Everything he did the blonde-baka seemed to be miraculously better. What had annoyed him during the bell test was infuriating him now, because from his biased viewpoint the level of power between them should be and always remain tipped substantially in his favour.

But it wasn't, and that was something the Uchiha vowed to change, hence the increased vigil with mastering his family fire jutsu, learning his clans fabled taijutsu style 'Fennikusu Hiken' and training to awaken his sharingan. That raised a sore spot for the boy. If he had his sharingan, he would be able to copy whatever skills Naruto possessed and take back his position as the best of the best amongst the new genin. But for now the powers sealed within his blood were tantalisingly out of reach, further feeding the prodigies grim attitude.

Kakashi scratched at his facemask and hummed, recalling the speed his student moved at under the water of the river during the bell test. It sounded like a good idea; no flaws to it plus the boy could easily evade detection if spotted in any way by water patrols. Why not, let the baby have its bottle...or something like that. "Alright Naruto, but I expect you to head straight back to here to warn us if you encounter any trouble" the lazy jounin said with some finality, silencing any would be argument from Sasuke or Sakura, who up until now had been silent as the rest of them.

Naruto nodded in thanks, and with a flip was overboard and into the water, barely disturbing the surface with the smallest of ripples as he entered the water with the grace of an otter. He surfaced momentarily before taking in a deep breath and pushing underwater, pushing through the water beneath the surface with a speed that surprised the occupiers of the boats. Kurenai looked at Kakashi in confusion, but received a nod of reassurance.

Naruto concentrated on increasing the chakra flowing to his limbs and outer chakra pathways to give him a boost in stamina against the current and some added heat to stave off the waters biting chill. He saw through the murk a forest of mangrove roots pushing into the rising seabed, which he could now see beneath him. Breaching the surface for breath, he saw the edge of the Nami no Kuni, a vast forest of mangrove tree's rising from the sea like a natural border. Slightly to the side of him was a long line of stone culverts built to allow boats safe passage across the watery border of the country, so with a gulp he moved underwater through it. Then without any fanfare or ceremony (as if he expected any) Naruto had entered the Nami no Kuni where he would be staying until the bridge he had seen earlier was completed.

It didn't look so bad, now that he had passed through the culvert he found himself in a rivers mouth that obviously flowed into the sea, and the water had become calmer and changed in colour from a murky blue/green to an almost transparent green. The riverbed was lined with kelp and other waterweeds, which gave the water the green-ish colour, and Naruto paused mid-stroke to gaze as a huge trout swam by him. He couldn't help but grin, but then remembered he was underwater and had a job to do. Sight seeing could wait.

He swam to the designated landing spot and poked his head above the water surface to look around. He could see no vessels on the water from beneath, and after a quick re-con of the land area he found no presence of recent movement on any level beyond local wildlife. He put his hands together into a familiar cross style seal to create two Kage Bunshin, one for each boat, and bade them to go tell the others that the coast was clear to land. Whilst he waited for the others to land, busying himself for the duration by reading over the scrolls he had taken concerning the clans of the three members of Team 8. Each seemed to be written by the same handwriting that Naruto could only surmise to be his fathers. The first scroll he decided to read was the one concerning the Inuzuka clan.

'_The Inuzuka clan is one of the more underestimated of the many clans found within Konohagakure no Sato, mostly due to their low numbers and specialised abilities. Clan members have distinctive red fang markings on their cheeks, animalistic eyes, and enlarged canine teeth. Specialists in taijutsu assaults and tracking the enemies, they have a close bond with their canine companions. From an early age they are raised alongside their clan's dogs, and when they reach a certain age each Inuzuka child is given a puppy from their litter of the previous generation. From that point on the children bond with their new friend and train in their clans techniques alongside them. Their bond runs deep, and both shall do anything to protect the other'_ Naruto read silently to himself. So that was why Kiba was always seen with Akamaru, he's his closest friend and ally.

'_They are each trained to channel chakra into their olfactory glands so as to boost their sense of smell to inhuman levels. They are trained to attack alongside their dogs in tandem to maximise attack power and cover weaknesses, spinning or drilling techniques are most prominent amongst these attacks. The ninjutsu they are taught by their elders is mostly academy basic techniques and beast related skills such as transformation techniques, and their genjutsu is mostly awareness and nothing more. Any tools there use and always directly related to their ninjutsu and taijutsu like smoke bombs or hyorogan pills...'_ he read. There was more, an example of their training regimes taken from secret observation (which strangely enough involved a great deal of dog walking), and three of their most basic techniques. Naruto took it all in before moving on to the next on his list, the Hyuga clan.

'_The Hyuga are considered by many across the world as the strongest clan present in Konohagakure no Sato's history. Their bloodline is one of the most potent in all the shinobi nations, the Byakugan all Seeing Eye. It is able to see everything within a near total 360-degree range of vision. They can see through objects with their piercing eye to such a degree that it renders the chakra pathways of the people around them visible to their eyes only, which is even more deadly when combined with their Juken taijutsu style. This deadly art attacks their enemies' chakra pathways to inflict massive internal damage to the vital organs...'_

'…_Masters of the Byakugan are said to be able to see an opponents emotions and read their thoughts just by looking at a gesture, and they can also see the tenketsu points across the chakra network. The clan is split into two factions, the main family and the Branch family. The main family is the aristocracy, the chosen ones who are protected by the Branch family throughout their lives. Their hold over their fellow clan members is absolute, just how they enforce their iron will is unknown to all outside the clan but rumours of forbidden sealing techniques have floated around for generations. One of the noble clans of Konoha, they carry the greatest political strength on the village council and remain otherwise sealed off in their personal district away from prying eyes'_

Naruto read, pulling his eyes away from the information on the scroll and paused in his reading. Hinata was from the Main family, yet she didn't carry herself with the same pompous attitude that the others like her father did. She hadn't said anything when they had talked the day before; she mostly spoke of her hobbies and other such chit chat. He would have to ask her more up front next time, unless she was forbidden there was no reason she would say anything right? The rest of the scroll covered theories and training techniques behind the Juken style.

After the Hyuga came the scroll for the Aburame clan, which was the thickest of the three. Naruto could say without any lie that he was the most curious about this particular clan. Every shinobi village had secretive clans; it was a rule if clan techniques were to stay within the clan. But this one was took this rule to the maximum it could be taken, nobody came within one hundred feet of their clan compound within the villages secluded north-west sector, where the woods were especially thick. Other than their affinity for bugs, not much else was known about them or their techniques. Just how his father had ever got hold of such hidden information was a question Naruto would have to ask his old man at a later date. He perked up a moment as he felt a familiar tingling sensation originating from the back of his head, like a sort of buzzing in his mind. The Kage Bunshin had reached the others and dispelled themselves after giving them the information.

'_The Aburame clan is perhaps the most mysterious clan of Konoha. Not much is known about this clan, except that they use insects as weapons. One defining trait of the Aburame clan is that all of its (known) members wear dark sunglasses that hide their eyes. The insects live in symbiosis within the body of the ninja. The bugs reside just under their host's skin and can leave and enter through various pores, apparently by eating their way through the skin. The insects are called kikaichu or kikai mushi, meaning destruction bugs. Sometimes they are known by the name parasitic beetles. They feed on chakra as a food source…'_

'…_The relationship between the shinobi and the insects is mutually beneficial. The host grants the bugs shelter and allows them to feed off their chakra, their body becoming a living hive, and in return the bugs do the user's bidding, allowing the shinobi to perform ninjutsu-like techniques without the use of hand seals or chakra conversion. A female bug can be left on a target and then they can be tracked by smell, or scout bugs can be sent out and return to tell the host information about the area. For this reason, Aburame clan members are experts in espionage due to their ability to communicate with the insects and stealth because they make no noise or motion during combat…'_

The next portion of the scroll surprised Naruto, because it was written in a different style to the one before. This kanji writing was more block-like and robotic; the person who wrote in must have had a very calm and collected manner of performing things. But as he began to read it, everything became clearer to Naruto.

'…_My name is Aburame Shibi, and if somebody is reading this now it means that Minato-san's hidden bunker is being utilised for its intended purpose. I would first like to make a declaration of intent as to the reason why I am disclosing this guarded information, so that any of my surviving clan members will not feel honour bound to kill whoever possesses this scroll. I have known Minato-san since I was a small child, we attended Academy classes together and I can say that we do possess what most will call a bond of friendship. When he revealed to me the training ground known as Earth meets Sky and the safe haven known as The Vault, he entreated me to aid him in completing the library of scrolls so as to preserve our village's precious knowledge. That is the reason why I write this, to keep the secrets of my clan preserved so that any survivors might learn and benefit from the old ways of we, the Aburame. That is assuming that whatever catastrophe that has forced the opening of this Vault is so great as to wipe out a majority or portion of my clan, but like Minato-san has said from time to time "It is better to be safe that sorry"…'_

'…_I shall start by explaining the insects we call kikaichu or kikai mushi. These were originally a breed or parasitic insects found in abundance in the forests of the Hi no Kuni and Kusa no Kuni, but during a period that has not been disclosed to me they began falling into decline. It is around this time that the founders of my clan, those who found they could speak to the insects struck a bargain with the kikaichu. We offered them our bodies as nests in return for their loyalty and servitude. We as a clan gained unique abilities in the world of the shinobi, our new friends gained a new a chance for survival in the harsh reality of nature.'_

There was more beyond this, _'When we are born, there is a brief few days after the umbilical cord is cut before the opening in our abdomen heals to form the navel. It is during this time that the newborn receives its first colony of several hundred to over a thousand kikaichu. Each elder present donates some from their own colonies, and the father gives his child the colonies royal family, a king and a queen kikaichu. From that point as the child grows so does their first colony grow, they learn how to control their colony, to communicate with the insects around them and how to manage the responsibility of caring for all the many lives within them. During our lives, as we and our original colony mature, we receive a second colony and then a third and so on. The highest recorded number of colonies in our clan records was seventeen in a clan member called Shino. If I am to ever have children, I would like to name my first born son after this man.'_

'_It was discovered during the first few generations of the clan that the highest number of colonies the mature human body can physically sustain before the chakra penalty we give to our colonies becomes detrimental is eight, so in order to hold further numbers of individual colonies our predecessors created the host jars. These are large jars made from a special clay that they discovered deep beneath the earth of a forest we call Haven, where the last of the wild Kikaichu colonies thrive separate to the world…'_

'…_This clay is special because it naturally absorbs high amounts of chakra from the soil above it that in turn gains its chakra from the air, the insects and all the life in that ecosystem. Because of the special nature of this clay, we use it to act as an artificial nest for any further Kikaichu colonies, and as long as we are able to feed it with our chakra and thus sustain the colonies within they tolerate living in the jar. It is considered to be the ritual of becoming a man when an Aburame youth makes their pilgrimage to Haven to ask the wild Kikaichu for the honour of crafting with their bare hands their own host jar...I am yet to undertake this pilgrimage myself, but my time shall come soon.'_

'_Since we entered into the pact with the Kikaichu, there have been several attempts at cross breeding the Kikaichu present in our colonies with other insect species, but these attempts were all met with little success. I have some ideas on how to make these cross breeding experiments bare fruit, but as I write this I do not have enough data to fully prove my theory. I hope to add to this at a later date, but for now this is all I write on the subject of my clan for my friend Namikaze Minato. If you who read this are not of the Aburame clan, may this scroll enlighten you as to the secrets and past of our most enigmatic family. If you are however one of my brethren, I entreat you. Remember us, your predecessors, whose sacrifice gave you strength.'_

After that there was, like the others a small section on one or two of the most common Aburame clan jutsu coupled with their unique takes on taijutsu training among other things. Naruto looked up from the scroll, and saw to his amazement the others all rapidly approaching the shore where he sat. He hastily rolled up the scrolls around him and packed them back into his pack, getting up from his position just as the others stepped onto dry land. Tazuna and Soun thanked the boat drivers for their kindness and aid before the two boats activated their outboard engines and drove away.

"Wait long Naruto...good job sending clones by the way" Kakashi, said with a lazy wave as he approached the boy.

Naruto looked away momentarily slightly abashed by the sudden compliment from his sensei. Kurenai noticed this and laughed to herself 'Even though he has such raw talent, Naruto is still a child beneath it all', "Shall we continue on? Remember, lingering is not an option we can afford to take" she said, looking in Kakashi's direction.

The other jounin nodded and motioned for the group to continue on. Naruto walked to the rear of the group, his mind a buzz with thoughts perplexing. 'My Dad knew Shino's dad. That's a new one on me. But Shino's dad doesn't know that Namikaze Minato is my real father, he believes what everyone else believes. I was ordered by the Yondaime to be adopted into his wife's clan as payment for my…role in sealing away the Kyuubi.' He was so caught up with these thoughts that he didn't notice the silent bug-user slip away from the group to his position, until Shino spoke up in a rare moment of conversation.

"Naruto, I noticed as we landed on the shoreline that you were reading some scrolls. Might I enquire as to their contents"

"Uh, just training stuff. A technique here and technique there, small stuff."

Shino seemed to stare at Naruto for what felt like hours, and the blonde could feel the hairs on the back of his neck begin to prickle under the silent scrutiny. Then Shino turned and began walking away from Naruto towards the rest of the party. He paused in mid-step, "Naruto. When we reach our destination, you and I shall talk further. Although I am sure that your intentions are sound, I must still know exactly what it is on those scrolls. Something tells me it's more than just training and techniques" he said, before continuing on ahead.

"Su...sure thing Shino" Naruto mumbled under his breath, still annoyed at the predicaments he always found himself in these days. Shino walked ahead at a slow walking pace that for him was fast, rejoining his team and moving to the centre of the group, leaving Naruto with his head hung low. Hinata saw this from the corner of her eye when she noticed Shino walking ahead of her. Her mind returned to Naruto's word from the night before. Was it she had only heard a small amount of the conversation between Naruto and Kakashi

**Flashback **

_Hinata stirred in her sleeping bag, turning over again for what seemed to be the hundredth time. Sakura had fallen asleep hours ago, but Hinata for some reason couldn't simply close her eyes and rest. Something was stopping her from sleeping, so she would have to wait until she could. Then, her ears picked up some conversation from outside the tent, from the direction of the fire where she knew Kakashi-san was. She moved slowly towards the opening of the tent, steadily unzipped it so no noise was made and peeked her head through the flap millimetre by millimetre until she could see the two, talking by the fire._

_Naruto was sad, she could tell by the way his shoulders were slumped slightly. Her ears picked up when she heard him begin to speak. "I can still feel it, in my mind. Under my skin, the revulsion of it all. My blade slicing through his flesh, his muscle and bone with ease like, for lack of a better term, a knife through butter. First his arm to stop his attacks and eliminate the advantage. I could have stopped but I didn't. I didn't stop, and then I cut off his head. He was defenceless and I cut off his head like it was nothing..." he chuckled softly "...it was so easy too, like walking up a flight of steps or some other ingrained reflex action. That's what scares me a little. But what scared me more, was that I actually enjoyed it. Something deep within me enjoyed watching my weapon severe his limbs and soak the ground with his blood. It was...an awful feeling, bestial but enticing at the same time"_

_She breath in suddenly, he was still so effected by what had happened with the Kirigakure shinobi from earlier. Truth be told, she herself had not walked away from that ambush completely unscathed either. Having witnessed the death of another at such close range for the first time, Hinata had been taken away by Kurenai and counselled so as to avoid any possible mental trauma she may have incurred. She recalled some specific words that Kurenai had said._

_**Flashback within a flashback **_

"_Hinata…" Kurenai said as she slowly wiped away the blood from the girls face "…I hope you don't think of Naruto any differently from now on. He did a brave thing today"_

"_A…ano. What do you mean sensei" Hinata asked, her body still shivering from the shock of the battle._

"_Kakashi and I were watching the whole thing from afar. We saw how he reacted initially, how he emboldened you all with his actions. It made me proud watching you, Kiba and Shino act with such conviction and calm determination. Especially you Hinata, even from this small experience you have demonstrated just how much you are beginning to grow as a shinobi and as a person"_

_Hinata blushed under her sensei's praise, but was unable to hide herself as she normally would because of the grip the older woman had on her shoulders. Kurenai continued, "We only stepped in when that third shinobi arrived, and when he moved to attack you we were too busy helping you're the rest of our teams to move in time to do anything. But I saw the look in his eyes when Naruto fought that bezerker, and I can tell you now he had no intention of killing or even wounding the man. Hurting him, stopping him yes, but never kill him._

_Then he saw that shinobi move to attack you, and he knew if he did nothing you would be seriously hurt or killed. So for that instance he was forced to bury his conscience and act as a true shinobi to save your life…" she turned and looked in Naruto's direction, and Hinata followed her gaze. She blushed at the sight of her crush, busy cleaning his katana with loving attention. In a way she was jealous of the blade getting so much attention, but she scolded herself for thinking such childish things._

"_He's hurting, Naruto…" she heard her sensei say. She looked the woman in the eyes, worry squashing any of the after feelings of her recent close proximity to death. "…it's the same with every life we take. As shinobi we are forced time and time again to bury our guilt, our emotions that make us human to fulfil our missions. But every time, in the hours and days after we feel the weight of our actions baring down upon us. It is a pain I bear, a pain Kakashi bears, and a pain Naruto now bears as well. And never forget that he is your friend Hinata, never let his actions in the line of duty cloud your view of him. In the future you will all come to rely upon each other for support, and if you do not build strong foundations now then you shall surely topple"_

_The jounin kunoichi got back to her cleaning of the girls face, finishing quickly. She told Hinata that she would need to wash the blood from her clothes tonight when they made camp. And left the small girl pondering over the heavy knowledge she had just given her._

_**End Flashback within flashback **_

_Kurenai's words had worked on Hinata for the part, but the Hyuga heiress was left none the less with some very potent mental images that she knew would stay with her for a long time._

_As she drifted away in her memory, the following words said between the pair became lost to Hinata, but she did pick up one that caused a great deal of alarm. Kyuubi. Why either of them would use the demon fox's name in such a seemingly casual manner baffled the heiress, but when she heard Naruto thank his sensei and begin to make his way back to his respective tent she panicked and fell backwards onto her backside. This raised an 'eep' from her, and she knew that she had been rambled._

_So she quickly got back into her sleeping bag and lay down her head as firmly as she could make it, one hand over her mouth to stop any traitorous noises from escaping. She heard the opening of the tent shift as it was moved to the side, and there was an agonising minute when she knew somebody was looking into the tent, watching for any movement. She allowed a small sigh to leave her lips when she heard the zip being pulled down, and suddenly felt tired all of a sudden. Her eyes became heavy and sleep overtook her weary mind._

**End Flashback **

'Naruto-kun, why must you bear your sorrows alone like this. It's agonising to watch. I want to help you, ease your pain, but I cannot approach you. Why is that?' she thought, and in a rare moment of decisiveness slowed her walking pace until she was alongside her crush. "W…what's wrong Naruto-kun. You seem u…upset about something" she asked him. Naruto, in his alarm moved his head up quickly and hit it on a low branch. He looked around and saw he had steadily walked closer and closer towards the throng of trees, and was now reaping the rewards of his lack of concentration. He rubbed the top of his head and prayed that he wouldn't get a bump there, and then noticed the small giggling coming from Hinata.

"So my pain amuses you does it Hinata?" he said, trying to sound as serious as possible. The girl looked at him, her cheeks turning a rosy red before she tried to stutter and apology. But he silenced her with a hand, "No need to apologise Hinata I was only kidding. Fooled you huh?" he said with a grin, earning a small smile in return from Hinata.

"But you are right. There has been something bothering me…" he said, trailing off at the end, staring wistfully middle distance.

"If it's the…incident yesterday, you should not be worrying at all. You actions were in order to protect your comrades…and me, from harm. An act like that should not warrant any regrets"

"But I killed that man. He didn't have to die but I killed him anyway. If I am capable of that then what more could I do if I ever lost control. How many more lives would be at risk" he snapped back, softening at the flinch he gave her.

Hinata felt hurt by Naruto's words, was he angry with her in some way? She pondered this for a moment, before suddenly feeling a large well of steely resolve bubble up from within her core. Without thinking her hand flashed through the air and hit Naruto's cheek with a crack. Naruto stood there for a moment, his cheek stinging, and Hinata used this pause to emphasise her new found point of view.

"Naruto-kun, wake up and listen to what you are saying. The words you speak are those of a coward and you are not a coward. Yesterday you told me that 'If you doubt yourself in anything, you have already lost. Nothing is more damaging than uncertainty', those were your words. So please take your own advice into consideration, or so help me I will slap you again and again until you snap out of this depressive rut you have placed yourself in" she said, her voice changing from a quiet hiss to a forced growl at times. When she finished, and noticed to slightly frightened look on Naruto's face, she bowed slightly and apologised before walking ahead to catch up with the rest of the group.

Naruto lifted his hand to his cheek and looked ahead at Hinata, who was trailing Kurenai. He noticed that the group was approaching a small lake beside the road, but he overlooked this in favour of keeping his attention fixed on the burning skin of his cheek. 'Who knew Hinata had that in her…' he thought, rubbing the side of his face to cool down any red mark that may develop there '…but she is right. I have been thinking about things way too much, even ignoring my own advice. She and Kakashi-sensei have been doing nothing but help me overcome this malaise, and all I've been doing is either ignoring them or only letting their words balm my mood momentarily. I should have never let myself fall this far. As Kakashi-sensei said, killing is just another part of the life of a shinobi. If I am to ever kill however, it shall only be once all other options have been exhausted. These past few months have taught me how fleeting life is compared to the eternity of the spirit world, and all us simple mortals must be allowed to cherish our short time here' he ended, looking into the sky at the greying clouds.

"Looks like it's going to rain in the next day or so" he muttered under his breath, before a rustling in the bushes sent his danger senses to full alert. 'In the bushes' was his thought as he smoothly extracted a shurikan from the holster on his thigh and threw it at the noise. This sudden movement drew the attention of the walking group in front of him, and they all ran back to see what it was he had hit. Moving aside the bushes with his arm, Kakashi revealed the shaking form of a white snow hare to the group.

"Naruto you retard, what are you doing throwing shurikan at rabbits. You gave us all heart attacks" berated Kiba. Akamaru starting whining, and in response Kiba moved to the outside of the group to console his puppy friend. Meanwhile, the others all gave Naruto their own talking to for his seemingly stupid action.

"Typical of the dobe to make a big deal out of nothing" said Sasuke with an air of arrogance to his words. Small moment so like this when he had the chance to humiliate someone were like a sweet wine to him, and he savoured it for as long as it took.

"Yeah Naruto, I'm with Kiba and Sasuke on this one. You didn't have to go and scare everyone like that, what were you thinking?" chided Sakura.

Naruto however was too busy staring hard at the snow hare, which he bent down to pet to calm its tattered nerves. The shivering stopped and he allowed the small animal to continue on its way. 'That was a snow hare, but it only has a white pelt during the winter when the ground is covered with snow. That and this breed isn't native to this country. Its most common in Mizu no Kuni, which means…crap not again.' He turned to Kakashi who nodded, having come to the same conclusion at relatively the same time.

**Elsewhere **

Haku looked from his perched position on a tree thirty feet from the group. Zabuza said not to interfere unless it was truly necessary, so watching and seeing through any of the enemies' tricks was the only available option. Meanwhile Zabuza, who was breathing slightly after the quick kawarimi he had had to perform, lay against the trunk of his current tree. That boy who had discovered his hiding place, he was the one whom Tsugime had mentioned. He was the one who killed Kyouran. A smile played across his face, hidden beneath the bandages he wore to cover the lower part of his face. This would be most enjoyable indeed.

**Back with the Travellers **

Naruto looked frantically left and right, trying to look for any sign of an enemy. This one was good, probably jounin level if he could make an educated guess. His brain was already forming multiple strategies to use against an unknown enemy of jounin level, but until he actually saw the unseen foe he would be unable to draw up a decent battle plan. First he needed to find this mysterious entity, so he closed his eyes and opened his mind to the chakra around him, allowing his sixth sense open itself once more.

It was curious to Naruto, searching for things using their chakra as a trail, and every time he used his extra sense he felt this extra pulling sensation from the back of his skull. Whenever he looked at a person with this sense, he could see along with the faint traces of their chakra two extra things. First were these faint lines running all over the body, even fainter than the wisps of chakra that you were expected to see with the chakra senses. They criss-crossed at certain areas but overall kept the appearance of some sort of circulatory system.

The second and most shocking was this small beacon of pure white light and energy that swirled at the core of the body. This apparition seemed to call to Naruto in particular, like he was looking at something deeply spiritual or some sentient being. And every time he opened his mind in this way these additional images became more and more clear. But right now he had a job to do so these minor concerns were pushed aside.

His gaze swept over the surrounding area, ignoring the blazing corona of chakra created by his gathered friends and allies, pushing further out into the woodland just as he had done so the previous day to find out those three assassins. 'Just a little there!' he thought, as he fixed on a tall figure in the trees east of their position.

As he did this, the two jounin of the group watched in mixed curiosity and pride. "What is he doing Kakashi? Is he..." asked Kurenai, trailing off at the end leaving the question open.

"Yes. Naruto is searching for this new assassin using their chakra as a beacon" answered Kakashi.

"I remember you mentioning something like that yesterday, but I never believed it to be true. Sensing chakra is a skill most chuunin can barely perform yet alone master. And I only know of a handful of us jounin who can use their chakra senses with any degree of success. How is he able to do this?" she enquired again.

"Truthfully, I don't really know. If I were to guess, I would say that this is something that just seems to come naturally to him" the silver haired jounin replied. Naruto opened his eyes, and the pair watched as his head turned forty degree's until it was facing the east of the group. "There, he's found them" Kakashi exclaimed out loud.

Whilst this was all happening, a small puppy was relaying something to its master through a mixture of canine sounds that only Kiba could understand. "What, you smell someone. Where?" Kiba asked, getting a quick reply from his puppy. "East huh, what's their level?" again he waited for the reply "...really strong, jounin level strong. Aw hell, gotta tell Kurenai-sensei"

And at the same time, a certain pale eyed heiress noticed the change in her crushes body language. It was exactly the same as yesterday, when those assassins attacked them, which could only mean one thing. She activated her Byakugan and frantically swept the area, landing on the same spot Naruto had seconds before her. But what she saw that the others couldn't was the movements the man was making, and what he was about to do with that...huge sword of his.

As one with near perfect timing, four voices shouted out as one two words. "Get Down!!" ushered from the throats of Naruto, Hinata, Kakashi and Kurenai. As a large whirling disc of silver erupted from the trees to the side of them, the entire group dropped to the floor in undignified smacks. Naruto pulled down Sakura, Hinata pulled down Kiba and Akamaru. Shino and Sasuke reacted on their own, diving at the ground, and the two jounin pulled with them their two middle aged charges.

What turned out to be a sword flew over their heads just missing them all by a couple of inches where, if they had been standing would have been the locations of the middle torso's, and imbedded itself in a nearby tree. A figure appeared balancing perfectly still and straight on the swords hilt, and as everyone got to their feet they each got a good long look at the newcomer.

He was an adult male standing roughly six foot in height. He wore purple pants with vertical marks running down them along with camouflage ankle and forearm sleeves. He was completely bare-chested and his lower face and neck were covered with bandages to obscure his features. His eyes had a cruel glint behind them, his eyebrow less forehead completing the symmetry, and on his head he wore at an angle a hitai-ate bearing the mark of Kirigakure no Sato.

"Momochi Zabuza. The so called Demon of the Bloody Mist" said Kakashi, his voice harder than the genin had ever heard it be.

"Hatake Kakashi, the Copy ninja..." Zabuza said, his cold voice reflecting his cold features perfectly. "...and Yuuhi Kurenai, the so called Illusion Mistress. Last I heard you were a mere chuunin, but then again it's been a while since I've had access to an up to date Bingo book"

"So you're the one who sent that trio yesterday" said Kurenai, her hand slowly reaching towards her kunai holster.

"Guilty as charged. Now, if you'll kindly step aside there are two old men I have to kill."

"Not going to happen. We are the protectors of these brave men and so long as we draw breath you shall not get near either of them" Kakashi said, his hand moving to his hitai-ate. With a slow push, he moved it until it was horizontal on his forehead like the regular way shinobi wore their hitai-ate. He opened his eye to reveal a red pupil with three black tomoe (comma-like markings) in the centre where the regular dot pupil would normally be.

"Oh, the sharingan so early in our meeting. What an honour you bestow upon me" Zabuza said mockingly.

Most of the group were surprised at the sight and mention of the legendary ocular bloodline. Some were shocked for different reasons, such as Sasuke who was thinking 'the sharingan, how can he have it. It's a kekkai genkai bloodline trait that's only present in the Uchiha clan. Could he be a...'

Naruto however was among those who were not surprised, having been filled in on Kakashi by his father. But he was preoccupied with the mental preparations he was undertaking for the imminent confrontation. Right now the three jounin level shinobi were at a stand off, and as soon as one of them made a move all hell would break loose.

"The...the sharingan. How does Kakashi-sensei have a sharingan" said Sakura out loud, staring up at the new enemy with fear.

"Does a sharingan really do what I heard it can do? Can it really see through any ninjutsu or genjutsu technique" said Kiba, posing the question to the air more than anything.

"Oh it does more than that. Along with its piercing qualities, the sharingan mirror-copy eye can mirror and reflect any technique it witnesses. A truly formidable weapon. Hmph, very well. But before we begin this little game, there is something I must first do" said Zabuza slowly. He looked over at Naruto, watching the boys eyes follow him before darting over his form and the surrounding area. He was disappointed by the initial flinch when their eyes locked for that moment, but Zabuza shrugged it off.

'This boy, he killed Kyouran without batting an eyelid, yet he flinches now. Pity, and here I was hoping to have some fun. Its rare for me to find someone...so much like myself' he thought with grim satisfaction. "You, boy..." he barked "...you killed one of my subordinates the other day. So I think its only fair that in consolation I get to ask you a question, just one question. Tell me, when you cleaved that mans head from his body, when you watched as his body sprayed out a magnificent fountain of crimson blood. How did it feel?"

Naruto looked aside for an instant, his mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water. But he didn't have an opportunity to answer, as Kurenai, her hand finally clasping around a kunai without raising any suspicion from Zabuza threw it at the bare chested missing-nin. She hurled it at the man, but the knife merely embedded itself in the tree where he was as Zabuza disappeared and reappeared on the surface of the nearby lake with one arm raised above his head vertical, the other hand making a sign in front of his chest. Both of the Konoha jounin cursed when they realised just what jutsu he was performing, having only that second sensed the large reserve of chakra he had been building up.

"Kirigakure no Jutsu" Zabuza said aloud, and within seconds the entire area became covered in a thick seemingly impenetrable cloud of fog. The genin all formed up into a manji-style formation by their clients, hoping that their jounin sensei would be able to cancel out the bank of mist. Hinata was the only one among them whose eyes could penetrate the gloom, and what she saw terrified her.

Her sensei moved through the mist with the grace of a cat stalking its prey. Within a scant few seconds she was able to locate Zabuza through the mist before she made her move. She ducked under a swing from the massive sword and spun on her heel, slashing her kunai across the swords arms shoulder before driving it into the back of Zabuza's head. The bone made a sickening crunching sound, but 'Zabuza' merely grinned and dissolved into a puddle of water. Another Zabuza came at her from behind, slamming the hilt of his zanbato into the crook of her back, knocking the wind from Kurenai and momentarily stopping her legs from moving altogether.

Hinata gasped when she saw her sensei cry out in pain but she didn't have time to look at Kurenai. The Zabuza that attacked her disappeared…and reappeared in the midst of the group crouched low, his sword at a forty five-degree angle on his back. "Its over" he said, readying his weapon for the killing blow. But in a second he was halted by two kunai through his mid-section and back, courtesy of a double team by Naruto's quick reactions and Kakashi's superior speed. But this Zabuza, like the one before it simply dissolved into water.

Kakashi knew what would be coming next, his foe was the master of the silent killing technique. But as the kunai slid across his throat, he had already performed the latest addition to his large repertoire of techniques. He watched with a small measure of pride as his Mizu Bunshin dissolved like Zabuza's perfectly. Zabuza's eyes widened as he saw his jutsu copied flawlessly, and felt a kunai against his throat.. But he felt a small smile dawn on his features 'Two can play at this game Kakashi' he thought, as the kunai performed its grisly act and he became a pool of water at Kakashi's feet.

With a crack he smashed his fist into Kakashi's jaw before driving an elbow into his stomach. He felt a small shiver as a genjutsu took effect on his body, and he found his limbs bound by freezing knotted vines that sprung from the ground. As Kurenai approached him with the grim look of finality. But the self-same grin stayed on his face as he sent a pulse of chakra through his body and cancelled the genjutsu. In a few merciless seconds he overpowered the kunoichi and with a kick sent her newly unconscious form sprawling out onto the water of the lake.

Seeing this, Kakashi moved quickly to take up her body before it sank beneath the waters surface completely and she drowned, letting loose some makibishi caltrops to slow down the pursuing Zabuza. He grabbed her by her waist, ignoring the heavy water dripping from her body. 'Wait, since when is water this heavy?', "Oh no" he said aloud.

"Oh yes" Zabuza answered, appearing behind him with another water clone. The pair of them flashed through identical hand signs and announced the name of the jutsu that ended the three way battle royal, "Suiro no jutsu." The water beneath Kakashi's feet swirled around him, rising around his body until it completely encased him in a cocoon-like sphere of water. Zabuza, the real Zabuza completed the jutsu by placing his right arm into the sphere in order to keep it perpetually sustained. Next to him, his Mizu Bunshin did the same with the Suiro holding the unconscious Kurenai, who floated in the sphere like a twig on the waters surface.

"As I said before Kakashi, it IS over" said Zabuza with a chuckle.

Kakashi's mind was frantic, what could he do now everyone was vulnerable so long as Kurenai and he were held like this. "Everybody, run away from here. Zabuza must stay here in order to keep this jutsu in place, and his Mizu Bunshin only have a set range that they can go from the original. If you go now he can't follow, it's the only way" he yelled, his voice sounding strangely metallic as it filtered through the water.

Zabuza then formed another water clone, which rose and solidified out of the waters of the lake. It advanced slowly towards the group counting them all off one by one with careful deliberation like a cat toying with some cornered mice. 'One, two, three, four, five and the two men Gatou wants dead. I know he won't pay me for the kids…but then again who says you can't mix work and pleasure hehehe. Wait, where's that blonde one?' he thought, looking frantically left and right in search of the most troublesome of all the punks before him.

He was answered by an eruption of shurikan from the bushes, which he blocked by using the flat of his sword as a shield. Naruto fell through the air above him, a kunai held downward in his hands ready to spear into Zabuza's body. He was met in mid-air by the sword edge, but the smirk on Zabuza's face disappeared when the blonde broke into a poof of smoke.

'Kage Bunshin?!' he thought, and from the shadows the real Naruto watched patiently. As the vanquished clone's data travelled back to his mind, he began the second phase. 'So that's even when attacked from multiple directions he is able to defend and attack at above regular speed, unhindered by the unorthodox weapon he wields. Keeping in mind that water clones only have one tenth of the originals strength, the next phase should require three clones' he said, creating the Kage Bunshin alongside him. "You know what to do" he said to them.

"Right" they all nodded before separating and moving through the undergrowth in different directions. The strategy he had created for dealing with Zabuza was to use his Kage Bunshin to gather data on his attack patterns and skills to send back to him the original, it was almost like a live simulation. First one clone would go, then however many he deemed necessary until he had everything he needed on his opponent. He had thought up this strategy after considering his haphazard approach to dealing with the three shinobi from the previous day, which in hindsight had left far too many variables out in the open for enemy exploitation. So from this point on instead of relying purely on observation he would use his Kage Bunshin in this manner, which from the outset appeared to be working perfectly. What's more, it could be used on enemies far beyond his current skill level, thus adding to its effectiveness.

'What the hell is this mission doing to me. Its like the pressure of these multiple conflicts is forcing the Shinten Koyou Fuin in my brain to adapt and improve my mind at a faster level than its supposed to. Dad told me that after the initial release of the seal and the effects that went with it everything would die down and my brain would evolve slower as the seals effects become more and more embedded within me over time. Will every time I fight cause it to accelerate like this…I wonder' he thought, and turned to watch the clones at work.

The mist was beginning to clear somewhat, everyone could now see clearly up to ten feet in front of him or her. Team Eight had formed up on the left flank covering Soun mostly, whilst Team Seven was stretched a little more to compensate for Naruto's absence from the formation, but in a small way this in turn was compensated by the presence of Akamaru. This five person (and one dog) formation resembled a five pointed star with the two men in the centre.

Hinata kept her Byakugan trained on Zabuza, but for brief moments would allow her eyes to search for Naruto in the surrounding trees. 'Where are you Naruto-kun' she thought to herself. Meanwhile Shino was keeping his kikaichu in reserve, waiting for the enemy to come to him. His bugs didn't go well with water; their species could not walk atop it like others, which gave him a slight disadvantage for this battle. Kiba and Akamaru could do nothing but watch for this point, their attacks were sudden savage taijutsu assaults, which if executed without proper timing would leave both them and the group at a disadvantage. Sasuke and Sakura covered Tazuna, Sasuke facing the Zabuza clone with Sakura to his left.

"Where the hell is that dobe? Has he run away or something?" he said aloud angrily, not really talking to anyone in particular, just voicing his opinion.

Hinata smiled when she finally caught sight of Naruto in the trees to her right, watching the man with the sword intently. 'What is he waiting for?' she asked, before catching sight of the clones moving. With a cry, one of the clones jumped out of the bushes and ran towards Zabuza, who hefted his sword from his shoulder with his left arm.

The clone ducked under the first swing, rolling forwards to spring upward into an uppercut aimed at Zabuza's face. This attack was stopped by Zabuza's free right arm, which proceeded to knee the clone in the gut hard. This clone poofed out of existence and in an instant the second clone came from behind the mist shinobi. It repeated almost the exact same moves that the first performed, first it dodged the brutal attack made by Zabuza, in this case a horizontal crescent swing followed up by a downward strike that cut several inches into the ground. It then launched its own attack, this time using the embedded blade to launch a kick for the Zabuza water clones chest with its left leg, and like before the clone caught the attack with its free arm.

Except this time the shadow clone smiled and with a small grunt used the leverage from its pinned leg to make a kick at Zabuza's head with its free right leg. This sudden attack connected with a resounding thud. The Zabuza looked shocked and then angry, and with a snarl tightened its grip on the Kage Bunshins leg before swinging the clone around in a 360-degree arc and releasing it with a curse. The clone flew through the air and hit a nearby tree with a sickening cracking sound as its bones splintered. It like its predecessor poofed into nothingness. Everyone watched as the clones did this with slightly gaping mouths, all thinking 'just what is he doing'.

Naruto received the information from the defeated clones, as did his one remaining clone that was hiding underground with the Dochu Eigyo jutsu. "Wait for it" he whispered under his breath, sending the mental impulse to the clone to launch the final probing assault. It leapt from the earth, landing a punch to the solar plexus and a wicked roundhouse kick to the jaw before the nuke-nin was able to recover from the shock of the underground assault. He retaliated by momentarily dropping his enormous weapon to attack the upstart clone head on with his formidable taijutsu. His physical attacks were mostly specialised towards his formidable kenjutsu skills, but he like every jounin had more than a basic grasp of even the most basic taijutsu. He attacked the clone with several quick jabs aimed at the lower ribs, but these were blocked each time as the clone watched the shoulders for the tell tale signs of movement, the split second when the shoulders bulged slightly before the arm moved.

Zabuza continued to attack with more and more energy, occasionally throwing a kick or attempted limb lock into the mix but to no avail. With the data collected Naruto's clone was able to compensate for its deficit in strength and speed when compared to the enemy jounin with more decisive defences and rapid counter strikes. This only served to infuriate the nuke-nin further, and as his rage began to build at his inability to defeat this mere child. He then was struck with inspiration, and feigning a haymaker allowed the clone to deliver a palm strike to his exposed back. But with a feral growl, he reached around and grabbed the clone into a chokehold, grunting loudly as with a snap he broke the neck of the clone.

'This has to be the real one' the real Zabuza thought as he watched the conflict with growing interest. The boy, if he decided to use more deadly methods could have easily taken apart his Mizu Bunshin several times, but instead he saw fit to make piece meal assaults, clearly probing and trying to glean some sort of insight into his technique using the weaker medium of the Mizu Bunshin as a dry run. What's more it was working, too well. He sneered when this third Naruto poofed into smoke, revealing it to be a Kage Bunshin.

"Where are you boy. Are you so scared that you must send your pathetic Bunshin to attack me? Come out, and face me like a true warrior!" the Mizu Bunshin shouted out loud, his voice ringing across the silent forest.

"Who said I was hiding any more. I'm done playing around" came a voice to the far left of the entire group. There was Naruto standing atop a tree branch. He was surrounded by a swirl of leaves, and appeared before the startled group of genin. Meanwhile inside his watery jail Kakashi watched intently as his most prominent pupil displayed an ingenious strategy. 'Using his Kage Bunshin to attack and gather information on Zabuza's capabilities that he can gain from a safe distance. And now he seems to have finished, what is he going to do next?'

Turning his back to the Mizu Bunshin in a clear sign of open defiance, Naruto looked at everyone once. "Okay, here's the plan I have..." and with that he began explaining his strategy to the others. Each reacted in their own way, Hinata, Sakura and Shino each accepted their roles without question, whilst Sasuke and Kiba grudgingly heeded to the general group idea that Naruto's plan was the best thing they had to work with the free their trapped sensei. Naruto turned to look at the two clients.

"We're here to protect you guys, so if you want to try to make a break for it we'll be more than happy to accompany you and guard your rear from this maniacs attack. Our sensei's know the risk and are ready to make the sacrifices. But, we could go with this plan of mine, and both free them and achieve your safety. What do you say?"

The two citizens of the Wave looked at each other smiled and turned back to the surrounding pre-teens. "Go for it" Tazuna said, with almost pride in his voice.

"Okay, everyone take your positions" Naruto said, putting his hands together into the same cross style seal as before. Six clones were created around Tazuna and Soun taking up the positions of the manji formation where the genin and Naruto would have been standing. Hinata stayed furthest away keeping her Byakugan trained on Zabuza at all times, whilst Sakura was at her side with shurikan at the ready. Kiba was on his hands and feet, his Shikyaku jutsu in effect with Akamaru at his side.

Both had taken a hyorogan pill and were ready for the signal to move. Shino was opposite Kiba, his bugs massing around his arms ready for his signal. And furthest to the front were Naruto and Sasuke, standing firm to make their move. Naruto handed a large shurikan to Sasuke, whose eyes narrowed when he touched the projectile. 'So that's your plan, not bad for a dead last Naruto' he thought. Naruto to a deep breathe and said a single word, "Go!" to the others.

Kiba and Akamaru quickly sped ahead of the group, throwing a smoke bomb towards the Mizu Bunshin, which covered the small area around him. He dove in initiating his trademark Tsuga attack, becoming a whirling drill of concussive force. Akamaru followed suit, entering the grey smoke with a loud growl (made comical by his diminutive size). There was a long minute where in the others heard some sounds of fighting, the tell tale fist meeting flesh, before Hinata shouted out "Forty two degree's upper left."

As Zabuza leapt out from the smoke into the air, he found several shurikan flying at him courtesy of Sakura and Shino. He scoffed at the paltry display and used his zanbato to deflect the small projectiles. He didn't notice at all the small groups of kikaichu that scurried along his sword where Shino's shurikan had hit. The small insects moved across the clones back as he flipped in mid air to land on his feet. Then in that instant when his feet touched the ground, he saw the earth give way to reveal a shallow rut roughly twenty inches deep. He laughed at the feeble excuse for a trap, but the laughter died in his throat when he saw what the pit was filled with. A mass of black beetles hungry for the chakra holding him together, and as their fellow hive members signalled to them from the Mizu Bunshins back they swarmed over the clone, devouring it within seconds.

Then, at that precise moment when all eyes were on the Mizu Bunshin dissolving into a puddle as the kikaichu destroyed it, Sasuke leapt into the air the fuuma shurikan open in his arm. With a cry he hurled it at the one he knew to be the original Zabuza, the disc cutting a path through the air. The missing-nin from Kirigakure looked to see the whirling scythe of finely crafted metal flying towards him, and was shocked for an instant, but this was quickly replaced by his usual smug feeling of superior skill.

"Even if you are aiming for my original body, it will take more than a simple shurikan to touch, let alone STOP ME!!" he shouted maniacally. With ease he caught the shurikan with his one free hand, and for a second revelled in the look of disappointment on the genin's faces. 'After all that we achieved nothing' thought Sakura sullenly. But everyone's faces lit up with awe when a second shurikan seemed to appear from beneath the first shurikan. It whirled around once and headed straight for the Zabuza once more, and he couldn't catch this one because his hand was already full holding its predecessor.

"Shadow Shurikan jutsu. How many more tricks to these insolent gaki have!" Zabuza thought, as the shurikan got closer and closer to him. But with a heave of his body the swordsmen hopped into the air with his hand still in the water prison. "Ha, I told you nothing you try can touch me" he cried exultantly, taunting the genin. But what happened next topped every surprise they had had to date. The fuuma shurikan that had 'missed' Zabuza poofed into a cloud of smoke, revealing a stone faced Naruto holding a kunai in his hand.

"Eat this" he yelled, hurling the kunai with deadly accuracy. It sped towards the startled Zabuza, but just as it was about to strike, just as his hand pulled itself from the Suiro as his body turned to avoid the projectile, the kunai poofed into smoke. All Zabuza saw was a swinging roundhouse kick that smashed into his jaw knocking him across the water. And as this occurred, another kunai speared out of the water from underneath the Mizu Bunshin maintaining the second Suiro, cutting through the clone from groin to cranium.

As the water prison and the clone dissolved apart into the murk of the lake water, another Naruto rose out of the water and caught the still unconscious Kurenai on his back. With the jounin kunoichi secure, the Naruto ran across the waters surface onto the dry land and deposited Kurenai with Hinata and Sakura, who both set about rousing the jounin from her forced slumber. Overall, the entire confrontation had lasted a mere six minutes from when Kiba attacked the clone to when Naruto and his Kage Bunshin freed Kakashi and Kurenai.

Zabuza got up from the waters surface, a low growl rising from his throat. That kick had actually hurt him, and now he was well and truly pissed. This kid was skilled, far too skilled for his own good. And it would be up to him to cut him down to size. With a snarl he threw the fuuma shurikan still clutched in his arm in the direction of the blonde, before kicking off from the water like it were solid ground. If the shurikan did not slay the brat, then his zanbato would.

Naruto's mind swam as he saw the whirling disc of metallic death heading towards him, swiftly followed by a very pissed off jounin with his huge sword at the ready. Should he duck below the water? No, that would put him at the risk of the nuke-nin's water jutsu that he was bound to know. Should be avoid the shurikan by simply dodging? No, that would leave him open to Zabuza's follow up attack. Kawarimi? Possible, but he wouldn't be able to move that far. A ninja of Zabuza's skill would see through the jutsu in an instant and be on him once more in an equally short period of time. His brain flashed through any manoeuvres open to him, but every straw he grasped at seemed to bring downsides or dangers with it.

Then it hit him, like an epiphany from the heavens all of the scattered pieces seemed to fall into place inside his abnormally advanced subconscious. One sole plan of action presented itself, one that seemed so far away from feasibility, yet his brain and body were already acting upon it without a glimmer of hesitation. Time slowed to a crawl, the shurikan was only two feet away from him.

To all the genin present the following act was like some freak act of nature focused into a sole point. The watching Haku's eyes widened for the first time in the entire fight. Nothing had moved the mysterious shinobi beyond calm apathy, Naruto's clone tactics and plan involving all of his fellow genin had come close. But it was this one event that, when put under Haku's scrutiny in the time that followed, both amazed and scared the teen. These emotions were mirrored by the freed Kakashi, who had been in the process of preparing for his counter strike against Zabuza saw everything in minute slowed down detail.

A tight ball of chakra laden air swirled and coalesced into the palm of Naruto's hand, forming a perfect sphere of rotating wind so quickly that for a nanosecond there was a void created by the rapid intake of air from the surrounding area. Naruto roared as he slammed the ball into the fuuma shurikan as it came within the one foot range. There was an intense screeching sound as the metal buckled under the intense pressure exerted by the compressed ball of tangible air. Then just as quickly as it formed, the air forming the sphere released itself in a massive explosion of chakra fuelled typhoon class wind. The chakra laden winds slashed at the immediate area causing the surface of the lake to swirl and thrash about as waves were created and ripped apart. Some of the winds force hit the woods at the waters edge and beyond breaking branches and cutting gouges in the bark.

One or two of the younger trees were even uprooted in the gale. The sudden burst of raw power was so intense that a crater roughly fifteen foot in circumference and five feet deep was created as it forced the waters of the lake downwards. With a yelp Naruto tumbled into the mock crater and could only hold his breath as the water began to rush back in on itself. The crater 'filed' itself in as the surface of the lake stabilised, leaving all of the people present to stand and gape at what had just happened. There was a small amount of mist hanging above the waters surface, concentrated more so where the jutsu had hit the water with its aftershock.

Naruto looked up as the handiwork of his jutsu was simply for all extents and purposes washed away. The water pressure had been really intense, pushing his body almost to the lake bottom, but he held his breath as best he could and waited for the pressure to subside. And when it did, he swam as hard as he could for the surface and when he breached it took a massive gulp of air. He groaned as he heaved his body onto the surface like it was dry land, the water walking training working its magic. With amazement he looked at the hand that had held the sphere of air.

All he had done was perform the Fuusaishuu jutsu's training stages, he had thought that it might deflect the shurikan a little, at least enough that he might be able to dodge effectively the follow up attack from Zabuza. But that had been completely against what he had expected. A little wind sure but not hurricane in a can. And this was just the most basic applications of the jutsu, he hadn't started any of the advanced training he had memorised concerning it from the Forbidden Scroll copies. He didn't have long to think, as out of the mist loomed a familiar shape.

"Don't forget about me just because you did a simple fuuton jutsu gaki" said Zabuza, a grin on his face. But he was intercepted by a swift punch to the stomach by Kakashi. "Your fight is with me Zabuza" the lazy eyed jounin said. His hair was matted down slightly after being in the water prison, even if it was for a shorter period of time than he had envisioned when he asked his team to make a run for it. That was old news, and now he was ready to make their hard work count.

Zabuza jumped away to get more distance between himself and the wretched copy-nin. 'This jutsu will stop him' he thought, his hands blurred through a total of fifty four hand signs before finishing on tori, the sign of the bird. But Kakashi merely copied every last one of the seals he used, his hands and Zabuza's moving in perfect sync with the others. They both finished at exactly the same time and both called out the exact same jutsu's name, "Suiton! Suiryudan no Jutsu!"

The waters of the lake swirled and ran around them both in tight currents, then all of the sudden two great columns of water shot out from behind the and formed into two serpentine dragons. These 'dragons' roared loudly before shooting at the other, meeting in a crash of water sounding like waves breaking on a tidal wall. As the two jutsu cancelled each other out, creating a huge crashing plume of water that rapidly rushed downwards as gravity asserted itself. Everyone in the surrounding area braced themselves as the water crashed onto dry land and for a minute they were hit by the deluge.

'So many seals and he copied them all perfectly' thought Sasuke sourly, but his mood lightened when he realised that he was witnessing the awesome power of the sharingan before his very eyes. Eyes that would soon possess such a power. How long could a dobe like Naruto survive against such a force?

When the water cleared they could see the two men clashing with kunai and sword respectively. They both pushed away at the same time, both ran in exactly the same circle raised his arm vertical before moving it to a forty five degree angle to the side of his body Kakashi did the same. 'My moves, he's…', "…reading them" Kakashi finished for him. Zabuza inadvertently gulped, 'Is he reading my thoughts' he thought.

His hand went into a seal, fingers pressed together, and as Kakashi mirrored this movement his mind began to become frantic. He quickly flashed through the seals needed for the jutsu he was thinking of, but stopped as for once fear gripped his heart. Kakashi was still mimicking his movement, and as Zabuza stared he could see out of the mist and exact shadowy copy of himself form behind the grey haired Konoha jounin. 'Is this a genjutsu, how can that be me…' he thought, but his thoughts were broken as Kakashi sped through some more seals and completed the jutsu he had been preparing. "Suiton! Daibakufu no Jutsu" he shouted, and as he peered into his opponents eyes Zabuza swore he could see the sharingan tomoe swirling hypnotically, you could almost lose yourself to their whirling effect.

But he didn't have a moment to spare as an enormous spiralling blast of water rose out of the lake and formed an enormous wave of suede-tsunami like proportions, which crashed down upon him like, well, a ton of water. He was forced beneath the surface and tossed about by the mighty current. Finally he was slammed against a tree, and before he could move was pinned to the wood with several kunai thrown by Kakashi, who appeared perched on one of the tree's branches crouching like a tiger waiting to strike.

"C…can you see the future?" Zabuza asked, terrified for one of the few times in his life.

"Yes…and I see your death" Kakashi intoned, holding a kunai for emphasis. But before he could act, two needles flew from nowhere and embedded themselves in the nuke-nin's neck, piercing straight through in an automatic killing blow. Zabuza gurgled and fell to the floor, obviously dead.

All heads turned to the source of the attack, eyes landing on a medium sized shinobi wearing dark blue robes over a sort of striped body suit, and a pure white mask that had slits for eyeholes and the mark of Kirigakure on the 'forehead'. 'A hunter-nin? thought Kakashi and Naruto together, both immediately suspicious of the newcomer.

The stranger appeared by Zabuza's body in a small swirl of leaves and began picking up the corpse, slinging an arm over his (although from the timbre of 'his' voice 'he' could quite easily be a 'she') shoulder. "I have been tracking this one for quite some time now, so I thank you for your assistance. There are many secrets within this body that cannot be allowed to fall into the hands of those who might use them against my village" the hunter-nin explained, making a motion to leave the party.

"Wait a sec, aren't you supposed to burn the body where it falls?" Naruto called to the boy. There was an immediate shift in the newcomers body language, his/her shoulders tensed and one of his/her hands unconsciously moved towards a the cache of senbon needles hidden in his/her sleeve. Naruto saw this and that was all the proof he needed to prove his new suspicious hypothesis. His hand quickly moved to his shurikan holster, picked up and threw a handful of the projectiles at the 'hunter-nin' but it was too late, the androgynous youth had already disappeared from the clearing. Naruto ran towards the spot where Zabuza had lain, looking frantically in every direction for a trace of the enemy. When he found none he cried his frustration and punched the nearby tree hard, hard enough to cause his knuckles to bleed in any case.

"What is your problem Naruto? We just beat a jounin and your attacking someone who could be an ally" shouted Kiba, the effects of the hyorogan he had taken just beginning to wear off leaving his muscles with a dull aching feeling. He and the others were just starting to catch hold of some level of calm after witnessing Zabuza and Kakashi's fight, and once again Naruto had came in an burst that tranquillity with his assault on the Kirigakure hunter-nin.

"He got away" Naruto muttered through gritted teeth.

"Got way? He was just taking that shinobi's body to be burnt dobe, just like you said" chided Sasuke, trying to get his own one up on the blonde. His mind was going over the strange jutsu that Naruto had learned, the power it contained and how he could somehow steal it for his own use against his hated brother.

"Explanations shall have to wait until we have left this place," said a voice from behind the group. It was Kurenai, finally roused from unconsciousness by Kakashi, whom she was weakly supporting. She still looked pretty beaten up after Zabuza's painful physical assault, but like any reliable shinobi bore the brunt of her complaining limbs and continued onwards. The situation for the jounins had taken a remarkable reversal in their physical conditions, with Kakashi being the unconscious one after using his sharingan for a prolonged period of time, and Kurenai the conscious and responsible after waking up one.

"Okay everyone keep alert. The sooner we get to Tazuna and Souns village the better…" Kurenai said before motioning to the two dumbstruck men "…now if you both would care to lead the way we should get a move on"

"Uh, s…sure" Tazuna said, muttering something about 'value for money shinobi' under his breath. He and Soun pointed out the directions for their village and the group began walking slowly away from the latest scene of conflict. The only traces of the battle this time around was sodden slash marked earth and an area where the soil had been seriously eroded away into a wide but shallow trench by the Daibakufu suiton jutsu.

**Elsewhere **

Haku set down his master and waited for the effects of the Death State to wear off. His memories drifted back to the very recent fight with the Konoha shinobi. 'That boy. His skills were just as Tsugime described, except…more. His tactics and analytical abilities could rival my own, and that fuuton jutsu he used. The sheer amount of power in that single compressed sphere of wind was mind boggling'

Whilst Haku was going over the battle, Zabuza rose from the ground into a seated position. It hadn't taken long for the death state to wear off, but he would be left severely weaken because of it. He grunted in discomfort as he pulled both of the senbon needles from his neck, small spurts of blood following them with the release of pressure.

"You know you shouldn't pull them out like that, you could accidentally kill yourself," Haku said in a mock scolding fashion.

"Hmph. You really are a mystery Haku, so apparently kind one minutes yet so sadistic the next. You could have hit me in a dozen other spots to force the death state, yet you chose my neck" Zabuza said accusingly.

"True, I could have hit you elsewhere. But the neck contains the least amount of muscle of all of the body, and I wouldn't want to have you complaining that I marred your perfect figure now would I Zabuza-san" the teenager retorted, smiling slightly at the mock battle of wit they were having. "In any case, it will be at least a week before you will be able to move again fully, so we should use this time to prepare, because the shinobi from Konohagakure will certainly be doing so. That blonde one that you fought saw through my disguise and act almost immediately after I grabbed your 'dead' body."

"Hm, that boy. He has much potential as a shinobi. I'll bet that with his growth pattern, by the time I have finished recuperating he shall even be a match for you Haku" Zabuza said seriously, enjoying teasing his student and accomplice.

"I could only hope so much" Haku said, staring off into the mid-day sun.

**Author's notes:**

I am on a role with these updates. Scratch what I said earlier, I will definitely be finished by next week. A new chapter up next week too if I have enough free time on my hands to type of a good couple of thousand words. These days its usually around 14,000 words a chapter depending on what I am trying to cover. If its some sort of meaty exposition then I can ramble for ages, if its dialogue I can ramble for ages. Its knowing when to stop, what sounds good that is the key.

For dialogue, I always say what I am writing in the characters voice. If you use the anime voices, coming up with things you think a character might say becomes a great deal easier. Still all is going well, one more chapter to go. It is currently 4:42pm on the 23/01/08 just so you know. See Ya.

**Suiton! Suiryudan** - Water Style! Water Dragon blast

**Suiton! Daibakufu** - Water Style! Great Waterfall

**Suiro no Jutsu** - Water Prison

**Kirigakure no Jutsu** - Hiding Mist

**Fennikusu Hiken** – Phoenix Fire Fist


	9. Chapter 8: Legends of Old

Naruto Legacy of the Hokages

**Naruto Legacy of the Hokages**

**By Lysander45**

**Disclaimer:** I do not and never will own Naruto, no matter how much I want too. Any and all characters, jutsu and places that I create are mine; if you want to use them please ask permission.

" Speech

' Thoughts

() Jutsu translations/authors voice/usual use for brackets that I cannot be bothered to describe

Italic memories/writing/Spirit voice

Bold emphasis on word

… Pause during speech

**Chapter 8 – Legends of Old**

"Okay everyone, once more from the top. Form…" a strange combination of sounds is heard, a low whistling combined with inaudible grunts and intakes of breath "…and begin shape manipulation"

Naruto stood back and watched with pride as his legion of Kage Bunshin tirelessly worked on their latest project. Fully mastering every aspect of the Fuusaishuu jutsu had taken up every facet of his mind, and who could blame him when the rewards were so high. He needed results fast, which was the reason why he was using 300 Kage Bunshin to speed up the overall process.

"At this rate…" he muttered to himself "…we should be finished in roughly four hours. About time too, been practising this long" Leaning back against the tree, Naruto took allowed himself a moment's pause to gaze up at the clouds floating above. As he did so, his mind gradually began to wander back over the recent events of the past few days.

**Flashback**

**Day One**

Everyone stood (or sat) in the hallway outside of the main guest bedroom (second floor of the house if you are interested), eagerly awaiting any news of Kakashi's condition. It had been only four ours since their battle with the Demon of the Mist, Momochi Zabuza, and they were all looking forward to hot baths and rest after the tiring journey. They had moved as quickly as possible down the path that led them to Tazuna's home, situated roughly a quarter mile into the 'town' on the edge of a massive seawater lake/estuary, where they had been warmly accepted by Tazuna's daughter Tsunami. Soun had left the group to visit his own wife and home, saying that he would return for supper later. And after everyone had been set up with rooms (the four boys sharing a room on the ground floor, the two girls sharing with Kurenai and the bed-ridden Kakashi alone above them all) they had each settled down to wait for the silver haired pervert to wake up from his impromptu period of rest.

Everyone was silent, performing their own little tasks to keep themselves occupied. Kiba was throwing a ball for Akamaru to catch, Shino was cleaning his equipment diligently, Sakura was chatting to Hinata about a boutique she had seen on her way to Tazuna's and Sasuke was sitting on a nearby windowsill watching the flight of a flock of seagulls. Naruto however was not still; in fact he was anything but still as he paced back and forth across the room feverishly muttering to himself. Eventually someone broke the ice, and that someone happened to be Kiba.

"Naruto, would ya quit pacing like that its really starting to grate on my nerves" he exclaimed in an aggravated tone of voice.

"Yeah dobe what's your problem. That Zabuza guy is dead and Tazuna and Soun are home. As far as this C-rank is concerned all we now need to do is wait for the two of them to finish this bridge they're building and we can leave. The most work we'll have to do is fight some hired thugs who are five to a penny to us," drawled Sasuke, who finished with the thought 'And twenty to shinobi like you and I Naruto'

Naruto stopped in front of the doorframe and looked down at his feet, contemplating something silently. Should he tell them or not, after all ignorance was bliss. No, they needed to know, and he was just the one to administer the cold slap of reality to their faces. "He's not dead," he said under his breath.

"What was that?" Sasuke asked in a half-bored tone.

"I said he's not dead, Zabuza, he's still alive" Naruto answered, turning to face the now puzzled audience. Shino had paused in his administrations; Sakura and Hinata were looking at him and Sasuke. Kiba wasn't really paying any attention, so he kept on throwing the ball for his puppy to catch in its mouth.

"What are you talking about? We all saw the senbon needles pierce straight through his neck, he was clearly dead" Sasuke said, a hint of aggravation beginning to rise at the back of his mind.

Moving quickly across the room, catching Kiba's ball in mid-air as he went, Naruto headed straight for Sasuke and looked the Uchiha dead in the eyes. The intensity of his gaze startled the prodigy, but for his credit he did not show it on the outside.

"Exactly…" Naruto began, a wide grin appearing on his face as if he had just sprung a well-baited trap, the words flowing from his mouth quickly but clearly at the same time "…we all saw the senbon needles pierce through his neck. And what are senbon needles you wonder to yourself, well I'll tell you Mister Angst. Senbon needles are a unique shinobi weapon manufactured from the same metal as kunai and shurikan to resemble the needles used in acupuncture and herbal healing methods. When used in combat they have to be thrown with pin-point accuracy otherwise the user might as well be attacking with thin twigs because they do not cause damage unless they pierce vital point up and down the body, this makes them perfect weapons for illusionists and assassin's…"

"…Notice the first example, illusionists because I am about the explain myself. Throughout the body there are several points that if struck can cause the body to go into a state known as 'Death imitation' or the imitation of the deceased where all vital functions such as the beating of the heart and breathing are momentarily stopped for several minutes. These are caused by the accurate striking of spots were the nerves converge in tiny clusters about the width of a pin, close to vital area's. Did you notice when the angle of penetration and that when they hit no blood managed to escape from the wounds. Maybe it was because the wounds were plugged by the senbon but that still does not account for it, because the only area's in the neck where a kill is assured are carotid arteries, juggler and spinal column, and the needles cannot pierce through bone no matter how hard they are thrown…"

"…Plus even with the pressure caused by the metal needles poking through the flesh there would have still been some leakage of blood, so any previous assumptions as to the necessary 'kill shot' that appeared to occur are decisively ruled out. This lead us back to the area's where the 'Death State' can be induced, two of which are located on the neck. This evidence proves beyond all doubt that what we saw was an illusion created by the masked assailant to fool us into the assumption of Zabuza death, meaning that that psychopath is still alive. So excuse me Sasuke if I seem a little tense because I just happen to be going over the incident again and again in my mind wondering how I could have let it happen."

There was about two minutes of silence as the group digested what Naruto had said and went over the incident using what they had just learned to see if it was true. The conclusions were all the same, but the attitudes that came with them were all different. Shino accepted immediately what Naruto had said, some admiration towards the blonde settling itself in his head. 'You are a curious individual Naruto…just what has happened these past weeks to change you so?' he thought to himself.

Hinata also immediately accepted her crushes words to be true, followed by Sakura who decided to give Naruto the benefit of the doubt because in these situations he tended to be right. Kiba believed him, but grudgingly on sheer principal. The last to evaluate the words was Sasuke, who was mentally kicking himself for not seeing the truth sooner. As an elite shinobi it should be he that first recognises such information, not some orphaned academy dropout who was managing to beat him by the skin of his teeth (at least that's what he believed). So he forced himself to agree with Naruto just this once, but only on the condition that he had just minutes ago reached that same conclusion, the old Uchiha superiority complex rearing its ugly head once again.

"So Zabuza is still alive?" Sakura said out loud, fear clearly evident in her voice.

"How long do we have until he will attack Tazuna-san again?" Shino asked.

"Roughly a week, ten days at the most. The 'Death state' has the side effect of amplifying any physical trauma the body has previously suffered, so the effects of his battle with Kakashi-sensei will leave him bed-ridden for a while" Naruto answered wearily, the weight of the knowledge lifted from his shoulders.

"That's exactly the conclusion we have just come to" came a voice from the doorway. Everyone turned their heads to see who it was. It was Kurenai, leaning against the doorframe with her arms crossed in front of her chest.

Realising herself, Sakura piped up "How's Kakashi-sensei Kurenai-san?"

"Resting, but conscious. Using the sharingan has taken its toll; he will not be able to move properly for a couple of days. But in that period of time he and I have devised a training regime that shall keep you occupied and prepare you for the coming battle ahead of us"

"Training?" Sasuke said almost too eagerly, moving off of his perch for a moment.

"Yes, training. We start tomorrow morning, so I should get some rest" Kurenai said in an authoritative tone, before walking down the nearby flight of stairs to go talk to Tsunami.

Their curiosity sated, everyone turned their heads back to where they believed Naruto to be, except that particular shinobi was nowhere to be seen. Each was puzzled as to where he had gone and how he had left without their knowing it. Sasuke in particular looked all around the room searching for any small signs of the blonde's passing, when he saw Shino gazing at the window where he had just been sitting. Turning on the spot he looked outside and saw several faint ripples across the surface of the lake. The window itself was also a scant millimetre further open that it had originally been before, the small signs that of a shinobi that most would overlook, but not this Uchiha.

'He slipped by me in that instant when I dropped off the window…how could I not have noticed' he thought angrily, his grip on the window becoming so tight that several splinters of wood broke away and embedded themselves in his skin. Pulling away at the prickling pain, Sasuke decided immediately on what he would do. 'Naruto's obviously going to train outside of the lessons Kakashi and Kurenai are going to be giving us, but if he thinks he can out do me he's wrong. I'll have to train even harder than before, but it will be worth it for the look on his face.' And with that thought, Sasuke left the group and went down into his 'room' to pick up the training equipment he had brought with him for the trip.

**Elsewhere**

Running across the surface of the lake, Naruto scanned for a suitably secluded spot that for the time being would be his new training area. Eventually he settled on a large clearing by the edge of the lake, large enough for a couple of clones to practice. There was a particular spot in the sporadically placed woodland that he was the most curios about, and that was an enormous mandrake tree that appeared to be several centuries old from the wide circumference of its trunk. Its roots grew up out of the ground in great curving spires, which grew in such a way that they formed a sort of roof over a cave-like rut in the earth beneath them, much like the den of some animal. 'This place should be perfect for the time I have here' he thought as he moved around tidying the place as best he could, removing logs and other items so as to maximise the available space.

After finishing, he sat down inside of the cave-like 'root canopy', took out a spare scroll and started to write down about the recent events that had happened. If he was to face Zabuza and the masked figure again then he would need to alter his training accordingly, so making a list of idea's helped tremendously. Taking into account the possible extra input from Kakashi and Kurenai, Naruto quickly decided on what to do and how he would do it. Then he remembered something 'Oh yeah, I gotta dial up the old man and tell him about everything'

Sitting down beneath the bows in his typical meditative position, Naruto began the process of entering the Shinzui Hashi. But this time, instead of fully entering it, he allowed his inner self to just stay to the edge of the jutsu's spiritual dimension. Calling out with his subconscious Naruto searched for his father. 'Yo Oyaji are you out there. Nanoo Nanoo, helloooooo' he called in a high ghostly way.

What he was exactly performing was what he had come to call a Shinzui Komyu, a demi-version of the Shinzui Hashi where he established contact with the spirit world but never entered it. In layman's terms it was his internal communicator to the afterlife, able to work both ways in terms of him talking to the spirits (i.e. his father) and them talking to him inside of his head.

'What is it kid, something up? Ooh, you got that new shinzui jutsu up and running, nice one. How's that mission going' came his reply.

'Its fine at the moment pap's, but there has been some…complications' Naruto said, choosing his words carefully.

'What sort of…complications' Minato enquired, contact now fully made between he and his son.

Naruto proceeded to relate to his father in as much detail as possible the events of the past two days, from leaving Konoha to the attacks from the assassins to Zabuza. Minato occasionally asked questions but otherwise listened intently, and there was silence when Naruto finished.

'Momochi Zabuza, now there's a name I haven't heard in a long time. Last I heard he was on the short list to join the Kiri no Shinobigatana Shichinin Sho'

'The what?' Naruto asked puzzled.

'They are a group of elite shinobi based in Kirigakure, forming the bodyguard and personal assassination squad of the current Mizukage. Each is armed with sword-like weapons that are handed down from one generation to the next, making them a formidable opponents. Especially when you consider that Kirigakure's large range of water based jutsu is also at their disposal. Each member of the Seven Swordsmen becomes a specialist in a particular field, and is allowed to take on one to three apprentices that they feel have the skills to take their place when the time comes…that's pretty much all I know though' Minato concluded.

'Oh, thanks. In any case, with that Zabuza guy still alive I really need to beef up my training regime so I can advance fast enough to pose a suitable threat to him.'

'You know I was just thinking the same thing. Which is why I have been doing a little side project over the past couple of days that I think shall help you greatly'

'Like what?' Naruto asked. 'Enter Shinzui Hashi fully and I shall show you' was his reply, and without seconds pause Naruto pushed his soul further and entered the eerie realm.

**Shinzui Hashi**

Naruto opened his eyes to see where he had landed this time around. To his surprise he found himself standing in the centre of the clearing where his physical body was currently residing. 'What the hell?' he wondered, then his father popped up in front of him shouting "Boo!" at the top of his voice. Shocked Naruto could only yelp and fall backwards onto the very realistic ground. Looking up he saw his father laughing his ass off, clutching his sides as he did.

"Ha ha ha…sorry, I couldn't resist that time…he he…been wanting to do that for ages now…" he said through quick intakes of breath, straightening himself when he saw the venomous glare his son was giving him "…okay, onto a more serious subject. Naruto, there are some things that I am going to have to explain to you about the Shinzui Hashi, this place. To put it simply, this realm is evolving"

"Evolving?" Naruto said, confusion spreading onto his face.

"Yes. You remember originally when I explained to you how this place is created; that I said it was dependant on when you activated it whilst amidst the necessary trance. Well it has become apparent that those rules no longer apply, since as of yesterday this realm became self sustaining"

"You mean it exists even when I am not trying to tap into it"

"Yes. We don't know how it has happened, but if I were to speculate I could say that it was the enormous levels of chakra that your body is capable of producing that caused this to occur, by acting as fuel for the process. And let me tell you, this place has already caused quite a stir in the whole 'afterlife' community. An entire realm just popping into existence out of the blue like that, its bound to turn a couple of celestial heads"

He continued on from there "Also, I have found that the Shinzui Hashi has started responding more to the thoughts and memories of us spirits as well as you, which means that the more people begin to come here the more this place will respond and expand itself. When a memory is pulled up within this place, it adapts by taking the memory, recreating it in a more physical sense and assimilating it into itself. For example, I was remembering about a visit to Kusa no Kuni that I made when I was a kid, and lo and behold I found myself in that exact same spot, walking about as if I were re-experiencing the whole thing. So now this place has moved on from simply having its own Konoha, to having Ho no Kuni, Nami no Kuni, Kusa no Kuni and so on."

"So this place is becoming an exact shadow copy of the entire continent, not simply a copy of Konoha where we can meet and chat. Well that explains why we are talking exactly where my body is right now," Naruto said quizzically.

"Yes, exactly what I was going to say. Pretty cool huh? And let me tell you now it is attracting an awful lot of interest now. It could almost become a sort of holiday destination for the dead…if you get me" Minato said excitedly.

"Well even so, what has it got to do with me?"

"Well I thought since you created this place…"

"You implanted the jutsu in my brain so you created it" Naruto said interrupting his father in mid-sentence.

"…Ah but I didn't physically create it with my chakra because I'm dead so that renders your point mute. Back to what I was just about to say, since you created this place I simply thought you would like to know about it fully establishing itself, I mean its no small feat for a shinobi to create their own dimension. Some have in the past and some will probably continue to do so, that's not the point I was trying to make. The crux of the matter is you should feel proud of this accomplishment that's all. I know I am really proud of you son." Minato finished, grabbing his son by the shoulders in a warm gesture of fatherly pride.

"Okay, so is there anything else you wanted to talk to me about now that I am here. Didn't you mention some side project that you thought would 'help me greatly'?" Naruto asked, giving his father a knowing look.

The former Kage sighed, "Uh…yeah, I was wondering when you would ask about that…" he said, turning around to face a nearby canopy of tree's "…you can all come out now, I think he is ready"

And with those words, several dark shapes leapt out of the trees and landed around Naruto and Minato. Each was wearing a white cloak covering their bodies, making Naruto feel very nervous. Who exactly were these people he wondered, but he soon got his answer as one by one they removed the white cloaks and let them drop to the floor. The sight made him almost faint with shock.

Standing there were two amidst the small crowd were two figures straight out of shinobi lore. One was a tall broadly built man wearing a full body, black shinobi suit that was covered with crimson red armour on the chest and shoulders. An antique looking hitai-ate, showing his stern looking tanned face, held his long black hair back. The second was a slightly shorter but still imposing figure, wearing the same shinobi suit and armour combination as the other, except his armour was a dark cerulean blue. Around his neck there was some fur-like decoration that created a collar, and his hitai-ate metal plate extended downward on both sides of his face almost like a frame. This kept his spiky silver-blonde hair out of his pale face, which had two scars on both cheeks.

"Naruto, this is Hashirama and Tobirama of the Senju clan of the Forest. But I suppose you know them as…" Minato began, hoping to cut the ice as quickly as possible.

"…The Shodaime and Nidaime Hokages" Naruto finished, in awe at the two living legends standing before him. Suddenly remembering the others that were present, Naruto turned his gaze from one to the other. The first man he saw looked surprisingly similar in appearance to Kakashi, being tall and lanky of build with the same spiky silver hair. He wore what seemed to be a worn ANBU uniform with a chuunin vest over the top, the garb of a jounin who had clearly served his time well as a shinobi of the leaf. But unlike Kakashi he did not have the Copy-nin's facemask, his simply had in its place some bandages around the neck and a light covering of stubble.

The second man was more imposing in appearance than the Kakashi look-a-like, with jet-black hair that was cut in a short spiky fashion. He wore the usual black bodysuit that the other more advanced shinobi wore, except an unzipped blue chuunin vest that had a red and white 'lollipop' symbol on the chest covered it. Naruto's rising suspicions were confirmed when he looked the man in the eyes and saw his onyx pupils flicker into crimson red, with three Tomoe in the place of iris's. 'An Uchiha…?' Naruto thought, before looking at the next man.

He wore a dark brown shinobi suit with a mesh cloth shirt in the place of a regular one, and his bare arms were covered with interlined pieces of sand brown armour. On his back he wore a large clay gourd that was held in place by a strap running across his chest. The hitai-ate he wore as a belt had a different symbol to the Konoha leaf; it was almost like an upside down hourglass. This left his unruly black hair to fall unkempt over his head.

He stood next to another man of the same village, if the hitai-ate he wore around his neck was anything to go by. This figure was tall and willowy, fiery red hair tied back in a spiky ponytail. He wore a dark brown shinobi suit like his cohort except his arms were bare, showing off an intricate series of jagged tattoo's that covered every inch of exposed skin. He also wore items on his back, except these were ten tightly wound scrolls held by long strips of white cloth.

Then there was another man who kept to the back of the group. Like the Uchiha his eyes immediately made him stand out from the crowd, being nothing but a pupil's pale lavender in shade. The Hyuga male was tall and striking like most from the clan, long black hair tied back in a very loose ponytail and a hitai-ate worn across his forehead. He wore the clothing usually worn by the Hyuga Branch family, a loose fitting featureless set of black robes.

The figure stood out a little more than the others did if that was possible, but mostly because she was the only woman amidst a crowd of men. Her skin was so pale it was almost luminous, and her dark brown hair fell down past her waist in a cascading mane. She wore a simple hakama robe coloured an icy blue, trimmed with black on the edges of the fabric. Her hitai-ate was visible on her shoulder, but its symbol was one Naruto knew well. A series of four wriggling lines, the mark of a Kirigakure shinobi.

"These individuals are Hatake Sakumo, Uchiha Shisui, Kinzoku Jishaku, Monzaemon Chikamatsu, Hyuga Hizashi and Touketsu Mizuumi. Having heard about you through me they have each volunteered to help you in your training. They each specialise in certain area that I think will be beneficiary for your overall development; for example Sakumo here was Konoha's prodigy in the use of the elusive Raiton jutsu. Chikamatsu created the Kugutsu no jutsu and pioneered Sunagakure's Puppet Master training program, and the Shisui garnered a name in the Bingo books as the Shunshin no Shisui so you can see where I am going with this."

Completely blown over at the words he was hearing, Naruto could do nothing but fall backwards onto his backside. "But why me, why now. I've been getting on fine with my own training, I mean I just this morning mastered the forming phase of the Fuusaishuu jutsu."

"It is because Naruto-san, we believe you have been marked for a particularly harrowing destiny. One that may decide the fate of every soul both living and past that exists" said the Nidaime suddenly, his light voice cutting through the air like a breeze.

"What…my destiny? I thought the most that old hat had thrown me was a seal in my head and a demon in my gut, what more could there be for destiny to pull out?" Naruto asked, clearly at a loss. Oh how he hated these sorts of situations.

"Naruto…" Minato began, picking up his son from the floor with one arm "…for that to be explained I need to relate a brief tale to you. When I was just a boy, not much older than you were, I went on a mission with my sensei and team to deliver a package to the Daimyo of Kusa no Kuni. Whilst on our way back from a successful C-rank, we stopped in a village famed for having a real life soothsayer or fortune-teller whichever you prefer. Each of us went in one by one and each of us had our futures told to us. Nobody spoke of theirs because the scariest thing was they were surprisingly detailed and realistic, and for a time we forgot about them completely…"

"…But then parts of those fortunes came true, for example I was told that I would one day hold the 'almighty sphere in my hand as I moved faster than the wind' and some years later I had created the Rasengan and Hiraishin jutsu's for which I have now become famous for. My sensei Jiraiya was predicted to someday battle his best friend Orochimaru, and several years before you were born he defected when several gruesome crimes were traced back to him. So I remembered the words I had been told and wrote them all down, and as I looked into them I noticed several glaring points that linked to an ancient prophecy know throughout the continent as the Densetsu no Kyunin."

"What's the 'Densetsu no Kyunin'?" Naruto asked, his curiosity raised by the rather bold title.

This time it was the Shodaime who spoke, "It is like Minato-san said, an ancient tale past down through the generations. It tells the tale of nine great warriors, believed to be some of the very first shinobi to ever exist. This was during a time when little was known about chakra or the art of crafting it for jutsu technique, so these nine figures were visionary in their ideas. Each was responsible for creating techniques of unfathomable power and ability, and with these powers they brought peace to a warring land divided by constant war and plague. It was these powers that then attracted the interest of a fell demon know only as the 'Kagetentei', a creature of malice that was said to have been sealed in hell by the Kami when the world was formed. He responded to these nine shinobi by sending his nine children, who would later be know as the 'Bijuu', into the world to wreak havoc. Only barely were the great warriors able to hold the Bijuu at bay, such were the monstrous powers they could wield…"

"…Then eventually, using his nine children as anchors the 'Kagetentei' began to pull himself out of the depths of hell and into the mortal realm of man. But before he could physically manifest himself, the nine great warriors devised a terrible and desperate gambit. Using the individual techniques they each created combined with youkai siphoned from the Bijuu and their own immortal souls they formed a great celestial seal. This seal purged the Bijuu of most of their terrible strength reducing them to shadows of their former selves, and it sent their fell sire back into the Underworld, where he is still said to reside bound forever in great chains created by the sacrificed warrior's souls. But the tale ends in saying that one-day the 'Kagetentei' will make his bid to invade the mortal realm once more, and that like the nine great warriors there shall be a champion you shall rise up to face him. One that has command of the living and the dead"

"So you think that that champion is me?" Naruto said. He received nods from the people, but then Minato piped up once again "But you need to remember that this is all speculation on our parts. You could be this fabled champion of light, or you could not be him. The fact stands that this entity known, as the 'Kagetentei' might not even exist at all. In any case think of this as a precautionary measure, one that at the very least shall give you innumerable skills to use to become Hokage"

Naruto was at a loss, he could have never dreamed of a situation like this. It was almost too good to be true, until he remembered something. "But I thought you said I couldn't train here, since this realm has no effect on my body…or something like that."

"Well that may be true. You cannot learn any techniques here, practice taijutsu or do anything that would involve training in the physical sense of the word. But what you can do, what this jutsu's purpose was for originally, is communicate. The Shinten Koyou Fuin has given you what we call a photographic memory, any information that you here or read is automatically recorded. So exactly how we are all going to train you is this, you shall visit here and listen intently to whatever we have to say, memorising it as you do. Once you enter the physical world, you can then use your recollective memory to allow you to train in what you have been taught. It's the exact same process as when you learnt kenjutsu on the spot like you told me. But don't think that the advice and knowledge you gain here should take precedence in your training. Continue with the tasks you create for yourself and others, as well as the ones given to you by your living sensei. Teachers can be found in the most unlikely of places."

"Are you going to teach me?" Naruto said almost hopefully.

Minato looked down at his son and smiled a broad caring smile "Of course. You don't think I would let these guys have all the fun. But I wont be teaching you for a little while now."

This created a new swell of hope and happiness in Naruto; at last after learning of his father's existence he would receive tutelage from him. "Who am I going to start with...if you don't mind me asking"?

"I think we agreed amongst each other that I would be the first, Naruto-san" spoke the Hyuga, giving Naruto a slight nod of affirmation.

Naruto returned the gesture, totally at a loss as to how to act around so many extraordinary and powerful individuals. Probably extreme courtesy might be prudent at first, until he actually had a chance to talk to them all without the others eyes watching his every move. "Okay...what time to you want me to, um, contact you?"

"If you could come here at noon tomorrow, our lecture should not last no longer than an hour Naruto-san. Then you can return whenever you have completed whatever tasks I set for you to achieve, that is the way this process should work," answered Hizashi.

"Sure. Is that everything Oyaji"?

"Pretty much. Is there anything else you need to tell me?"

"Not really...oh yeah. There was something I needed to ask" came the reply.

"Well shoot, what is it?"

"The Fuusaishuu jutsu. When I first mentioned I was learning it, the surprise on your face raised some questions in my mind. Also, you did stipulate that I first achieve at least passable mastery of it before I even think of coming to you for help in my training. True you sorta pre-empted me now but that's a moot point now, put it still made me wonder why you would be so interested. So tell me paps, tell me all you know about the Fuusaishuu jutsu"

Minato looked quite surprised at the question, but surprise rapidly gave way to a smirk. "Fair enough then, if it'll help you better understand things. I should start by describing to you what you should already know by now. The Fuusaishuu, the Wind Gathering technique, is a special ninjutsu that was deemed dangerous enough by the Nidaime Hokage to require sealing away with other techniques within the Forbidden Scroll. This decision was made based on the threat the jutsu posed. "

"You sealed the jutsu away Tobirama-san?" Naruto asked

"Yes. Techniques like the Fuusaishuu, elemental manipulators that control the very building blocks of nature give a shinobi too much power. Those abilities venture into realms only gods should touch, which is the reason I had the Fuusaishuu, Kaosaishuu, Suisaishuu, Raisaishuu and Dosaishuu jutsu sealed away" the second Hokage answered.

"Fuusaishuu gathers and manipulates the air around the body into tangible forms. The same for each of the other jutsu, one created to manipulate and gather every individual element that exists for a shinobi. Fire, Wind, Lightning, Earth and Water, these are the elements of chakra and the world around us. I believe I have told you of this already, but it helps to repeat things for clarification. These five jutsu were created for a specific purpose, and that purpose links in to the legend of the Densetsu no Kyunin that I just told you about. It is believed by many minds that the creator of these five jutsu was none other than one of the nine powerful shinobi that fought and sealed the 'Kagetentei'…"

"…During the founding of Konohagakure, a sealed casket was found buried deep underground containing the secrets of the Saishuu jutsu. And when he read them, the future Nidaime decided with his brother to seal them within the Forbidden Scroll. Many shinobi know of their existence, but only as myths like their creator..." Minato explained, pausing at the end "...and that's all of the history behind those jutsu. The reason I wanted you to master the Fuusaishuu is because I believe it gives you an incredible edge against the competition. The more strings you have to your bow the better am I right?"

"Yeah I guess so..." Naruto said quietly, almost to himself looking away from the crowd.

"Fair enough then, that should be everything. Now run along back to reality, you need to rest up some. Hope to see you soon, and good luck to you with whatever Kakashi has planned for you."

Naruto nodded, and with a quick thought and hand seal, severed his connection with the now separate realm of Shinzui Hashi. The group watched as his body faded away like sand passing on a sudden breeze, before they returned to their own trains of thought. "So it begins...but will he be ready" spoke up the former Kazekage, his squinting eyes reflecting the inner workings of his mind. All others of the group, who were thinking of the same things, in turn mirrored this.

"So much pressure and responsibility. Why does it have to be placed onto the shoulders of an innocent boy?" asked Mizuumi quietly, a question posed to everyone and no one.

"We all faced similar hardships when we were his age. Remember, some of us grew up in times before the villages were first being formed" spoke up the Nidaime, Tobirama.

"Chaos. It has been present in the world since the dawn of creation, keeping the balance with order. It is the nature of things to come in pairs like that...bit of a bitch though huh!" said Chikametsu in a faux-scholarly tone of voice, though this was immediately marred by the obscenity that finished the sentence.

"Indeed. I almost wished that I had never created that seal in the first place...never created a jutsu that could contact the dead" Minato muttered bitterly.

"Remind me Minato-sama, how did you come about creating the Shinten Koyou Fuin and the Shinzui Hashi?" asked Shisui, his tone denoting his formal attitude.

"That's the thing. I never really knew where the ideas came from. I woke up one morning and they were there inside my head. The ideas mind you, not the actual formulae on how to do them...those took time enough. Years even, all the while done with a need for secrecy that I could never truly grasp. There were times when I could feel my interest in them waver, or I would hit a dead end in my research, and it was always at those times that I would have a sudden flash of inspiration to overcome the problem or sense of malaise" Minato said, answering as best he could.

"Kami I hate this. Its like were all pawns in some vast celestial game" vexed Sakumo, who up until that time had been silent.

"When all is said and done, that is exactly what we are a part of. If Naruto had not been branded by fate as its chosen vassal, then some other child would have. The cycle continues regardless of our feelings on the matter, and all we can do is prepare as best we can for it." said Hashirama, his deep voice ringing true to all present.

"Yeah. Still doesn't mean I cant be pissed off about it though" said Minato, crossing his arms and looking to the shadowy sky.

**Somewhere**

All around there is black, pure undiluted darkness. Save for the chains, the great and mighty chains there is no colour or substance whatsoever. The chains are made of a thick otherworldly metal, otherworldly because of their colour, that of pure shining white. They anchor themselves into the ground of the immense cave-like place, this other dimension, and continue up and up until they find themselves wrapped around something. You cannot see what this bound thing is; it is a part of the black, a part of the darkness. But you know it is there, as the moving and heaving of its shadowy bulk causes the chains to move and hold fast. The many anchors (appearing to the eyes to be great carved blocks of pure white stone) that bind these great and many chains are marked, marked by single kanji to symbolise the unique properties of the chains, how they were created. And all about the gaping cavernous chasm the sound of wailing, of lamenting roaring and anger is heard, ushering from a thousand strong throats accompanied by the fraught clanging of the chains.

Suddenly, without warning a new sound to the creaking of the chains is heard. Like the slow shattering of glass, it began with a single cracking noise, before multiplying into many. The bellowing ceased for a brief moment, as whatever existed in that dark place gave pause to observe the new occurrence. Its gaze was drawn to the source of new sound, a single chain of the many restraining it. There were several dark cracks in the chain, spreading quickly from the focal point all across the great chain till they reached the mighty anchor. A single split spread slowly across the anchor until it reached the kanji at its centre. This particular kanji read Kaze, and as it cracked there was the faint sound of rustling wind combined with an almighty cry of 'No'.

Then as the crack reached the base of the anchor and the furthest tip of the chain, the whole edifice exploded into a shower of glittering white shards. These shards were quickly engulfed by the darkness, and a deep thundering noise replaced the wailing, deep and throaty like the laughter of a beast. Then the laughter stopped and was replaced by a wholly more sinister sound, the voice of the said bound darkness.

"And so the pawns begin their movements, the game continues a piece...one more chain is broken"

**The Real World (Day Two)**

Naruto awoke with a gasp. It was early morning and he had slept like a log if his stiff body was anything to go by. After he had awoken from his meditative trance, Naruto had immediately begun to feel a sense of immense fatigue as all of the days events caught up with his pre-adolescent body. So he hurried back to Tazuna's house and retired to his newly prepared futon bed, quickly falling asleep.

'Today is the day the training begins...better go through my warm-ups anyway though, don't want to strain myself' he thought, and quickly got dressed. He took his time to carefully put on his weights, feeling their familiar heaviness and density. Over the past few weeks that he had been wearing the weighted vest, the bracers on his forearms and the ankle weights for his legs. Plain yet elegant in design, a capable of increasing in weight and density when he opened up channels for them to feed on his chakra. The constant pressure on his body forced it to constantly adapt, and already he was noticing some small changes.

His bones were adapting to the pressure by becoming stronger, harder to break. His muscles were coping with the density by becoming dense themselves. The common occurrence was that when put under pressure with constant strenuous exercise, the human muscles expand as new tissue is created. But in Naruto's case, the existing tissue was compressing and becoming dense as new cells were being created, achieving what could be considered an unexpected but beneficial side effect of increasing strength innocuously. At the moment it really was early days and speculation where that was all concerned, but still all things can become possibilities. That was something he was only just coming to realise about his life.

After moving through his usual morning routine, altered slightly to fit the change of location. When he returned he found the rest of the genin were all in their own varying stages of morning awareness. Sasuke, Shino and Hinata were all ready and prepared, whilst Sakura was in the bathroom washing her hair thoroughly. Kiba hadn't been in the house for about a half hour, but he had told everyone he was taking Akamaru for a walk so they were fairly complacent with any tardiness on his part.

"Where did you go yesterday Naruto" said Sasuke loudly, as they all followed Kurenai to the place where she said they would be training.

"What do you mean?" Naruto asked, not really in the mood for Sasuke's power play bullshit. It was becoming really boring having to put up with his constant digs for information even if it was small. 'He must really be insecure...' thought Naruto dryly '...but then again he had never had any competition before, he has always been the best. Heck of a culture shock if you ask me'.

"Yesterday, you vanished after Kurenai finished telling us about Kakashi's condition. None of us noticed you leave, but for some ripples on the surface of the water outside. Where did you go?" he finished, sounding more insistent than before.

"Isn't it one of the shinobi's defining characteristics to be able to disappear unnoticed? Anyways I went for a walk if you really must know"

Sasuke huffed at the cool remark and walked slightly faster than before, keeping his characteristic posture perfectly as he did so. When they all reached a large clearing, Kurenai turned around and looked at the group. "Here is where we shall be training"

There was a long pause, where only the sounds of the forest around them could be heard. A slight creaking drew their attention briefly, but it revealed itself to be Kakashi hobbling towards them on crutches, accompanied by Kiba and Akamaru. "Gomen, but Kiba here arrived about five minutes after you all had left so I decided to show him where you went. I hope you don't mind if I tag along with your session Kurenai?" said Kakashi, smiling his awkward 'eye-smile'.

"That's fine, I was just about to explain the training process to everyone..." she turned from Kakashi and waited for Kiba to join the hesitant genin "...you all are strong, but in your own unique ways. Most of you are and will be reliant on the jutsu taught by your clans for most of your shinobi careers. Now I am not saying that these are poor skills that you must not cherish and utilise, what I am saying is you need more than these individual skills. That is why you are put under the care of jounin like myself and Kakashi, it is our task to help you expand on these skills and create strong foundations for when you rise in the ranks as shinobi. It is for these reasons that training regimes like the one we are about to perform were created"

"And what exactly is the nature of this training" enquired Shino, his tone and posture unflinching as always.

"We are going to climb trees" answered Kakashi, pointing with a free hand to the various tall trees dotted all around them.

"We can already do that" scoffed Kiba in a whining bored tone of voice. Akamaru yelped in agreement, looking at the trees in a far different manner to the humans. After al, this was all unmarked territory, and he was the only dog for a mile or so.

"Oh I know you can all climb trees, anyone can. But you will be climbing without the use of your arms...only your feet. This exercise is called Tree Walking, it helps teach you how to cling to surfaces using your chakra, and it also has the secondary effect of increasing your chakra reserves. Pretty cool for training huh?"

'Tree climbing!? This is cake walk baby stuff, its the sort of training that...genin go through. Right, well that's fairly obvious genius, of course they haven't done this training yet but you have. If this is all Kakashi is trying to teach me then I have nothing more to do here than waste time. Guess I gotta bite the bullet' Naruto thought. He waited until the jounin had finished with their explanations on how to learning how to balance the right quantities of stamina and energy to create certain amounts of chakra can help prepare for learning almost every kind of jutsu, and that the feet were the hardest places to gather chakra. Then he raised his hand slightly and coughed loudly, in an attempt to try to catch the jounins attention.

Kakashi saw the boys attempt and decided to enquire further. "Yes what is it Naruto?" he said out loud, causing Kurenai to stop in mid-sentence and all of the others to turn and look at him.

"Um, I can already do this exercise. Water walking too, but I guess you all already know about that. So, uh, can I skip this part and go do my own training because otherwise I could be just wasting mine and your time"

"Well if you are so sure of your abilities then why don't you be our demonstrative example. I was just about to do it myself, but with these crutches it might be a little slow so, well you get the idea. It might as you put it...'waste our time'" Kakashi said almost gleefully, a mischievous glint in his visible eye. 'Lets see what you do now Naruto' he thought with a small laugh.

Naruto hung his head and softly laughed himself, 'Game on sensei, game on. You wont be smiling for long though' he thought, and calmly walked towards the nearest tree to him. Every eye was on him as he focused the chakra into his feet, creating a brief bluish glow around them. When he was satisfied with the correct amount of chakra flowing to his feet, he momentarily shifted his weight onto his left foot. Then like a shot he ran towards the tree, almost looking like he would hit it (which some of the party wished he would do, but no names will be uttered) but he didn't. His right foot impacted with the wood, immediately gaining an unnatural grip with the grain providing purchase for the other one to move ahead of it and so on.

He ran up the tree until he was roughly twenty feet or so up, and then he stopped dead. Redirecting the chakra in his feet to the balls of his heels, Naruto allowed his body to fall backwards as if he were taking a sure fire swan dive. For a moment everyone gulped as it looked like he was falling, except the chakra held him in place He seemed to hover there on the tree, his body mere millimetres away from the tree's surface. He 'lay' there suspended for about a minute, before with a snap of his body he was parallel to the ground again. He then proceeded to walk five paces, before somersaulting off of the tree. His body arched through the air, dropping about fifteen out of the twenty feet before he used another tree to rebound and land in front of the amazed group of slack jawed genin. The jounin had some raised eyebrows as well, but they kept themselves in check.

"And that..." Naruto said in the most scholarly fashion he could muster "...that is how you perform the Tree Climbing exercise. Upon mastering it you can immediately see the benefits, the ability to cling to surfaces you would not be able to normally. Plus the effect can be used on other parts of your body, mostly the hands but its up to you."

Nobody spoke, they just stood there with their bottom lips open. Then Kiba spoke up with a simple "Damn" which broke the ice immediately. Then Hinata started clapping, followed by Sakura, Shino, the jounin instructors and eventually Kiba. Sasuke didn't move, he just stood staring at the tree that Naruto had ascended, like it was some form of gauntlet that had been thrown before him. After the noise subsided, Kurenai instructed the genin to each mark the furthest points they could achieve with a kunai knife, so they had a mark to surpass in their following attempt, which made sense to them all so they did just that. As the group filed off one by one to their own individual trees.

Naruto was pulled aside by the adults, who were in the process of discussing between themselves exactly what sort of exercise they would put Naruto through, more for the others self esteem than anything. If they saw that Naruto was going off to train on his own, they might become distracted from the Tree Climbing (especially Sasuke), which would slow everything down.

"Alright Naruto, since you obviously have a firm grasp over this particular technique, you merit a different approach to the others in terms of training. Now I have explained to Kurenai your…unique…skills and method of training, and together we have devised what we believe to be a suitable 'curriculum' for you to follow over the next couple of days" the jounin said slowly, trying to make sure that the boy got the full meaning of what they were saying.

"Since you have skills and tactical prowess that your fellow genin (for the time being) lack in, you Naruto shall be our trump card against what ever Zabuza brings to the next fight. You have displayed the ability to adapt rapidly to a situation, which will be crucial if this mission is to succeed" Kurenai intoned, her poker face not altering for a second.

'Wow, these guys are serious. I was hoping to work by myself, but this special training sounds quite interesting. What the hell, oyaji told me to train under as many sensei as I could, so if these guys have something to offer then I'm game' Naruto thought, his mind working through a list of the possibilities that may await him under the jounin's tutelage.

"So what exactly are you going to train me in Kakashi-sensei, Kurenai-sensei" Naruto asked politely.

"Well, it's a little unorthodox considering your status as genin. But then again, your ability renders that point mute so that's of no consequence. The training we want you to undergo is…" Kakashi said, beginning his lengthy explanation.

**Later**

After Kakashi's lecture on the exact method of training he wanted Naruto to try had finished, Naruto quickly ran to the nearest, largest tree he could find. He was actually excited, truthfully genuinely excited. The exercise itself was really quite simple, but it was the challenge that really got Naruto's mind working. He looked at the tree and then at the leaf that Kakashi had given him in his hand.

'By splitting the directions that I send my chakra, I increase the difficulty of the exercise. Not bad sensei, you actually thought of a good idea this time. Plus it'll teach me how to manage various fluctuating levels of chakra simultaneously, which prepares me for real shinobi battles where you have to use any number of varying jutsu against my opponent.'

After removing his hitai-ate and placing it into his hip pouch, Naruto stood before his selected tree and adopted a neutral chakra-focusing stance. He placed the leaf on his forehead and then began to the training jutsu, sending chakra to the soles of his feet and the spot where the leaf was. He felt the slight sticking sensation in his feet and the small pressure of the leaf moments later, signalling that everything was occurring as it should.

Then with a run he began to ascend the tree, rapidly gaining ground above his peers who were each struggling with different degrees of success. He managed to get roughly two thirds up the tree when suddenly he felt the chakra running through his body cut out and die, almost like he had ran out completely of the stuff which was a ludicrous idea. The grip left his feet and he began to slip down the tree and fall, but instinct kicked in and with a swift kick he pushed away from the tree. Landing safely on another tree, over at where he had just been with hard critical eyes.

'What the heck just happened?' he thought to himself, when he noticed some small burn marks on the bark where his feet had been. They were incredibly faint, but still visible as faded black footprints. 'How did my chakra do that, when all I was doing was directing it in two different directions.'

Meanwhile, a certain Uchiha was watching the display from his vantage point at the base of his own tree. Sasuke had just attempted to run up his tree for the third time and had met the same result with each try. He only got so far before the bark exploded under his feet, forcing him to push away and land back at the start. 'So too much chakra and the bark breaks beneath your feet, too little and there is no grip whatsoever. But Naruto was able to get so far on his first attempt, how is that possible. And what's with that damn leaf on his forehead. Is it some special extra training?!' he thought angrily. The idea that Naruto was receiving special attention and he was not was infuriating to the natural born genius, but Sasuke forced his nerves to cool themselves before he became too heavily distracted. 'Well whatever Naruto can do, I WILL do better' he mused, picking up a stray leaf from the floor. As Naruto made his second run up his tree, Sasuke watched intently, looking for any hints as to how his rival was able to perform the jutsu so well.

'If I had the sharingan, this would be so much easier. All I would have to do was copy Naruto's movements and I would master this exercise in an instant, but I don't have the sharingan' the Uchiha thought bitterly. He had tried several times over the past couple of weeks to activate his bloodline doujutsu, but to no avail. 'Maybe I should ask Kakashi about it, he has that single sharingan in his one eye' Sasuke asked to himself. His eyes narrowed onto the leaf, his genius mind making sense of what was going on after a single glance.

His eyes widened a small millimetre, 'Of course, the leaf is not moving at all. That means Naruto must be somehow using his chakra to hold it in place whilst simultaneously performing the Tree Climbing exercise. That pushes his chakra in opposite directions making the whole process harder, but the rewards become greater as a consequence. So if I do the same trick, I would be receiving the same benefits as that teme.' And with that thought, Sasuke removed his hitai-ate and set in down beside his tree. Placing the leaf on his forehead he began to steadily focus his chakra, reducing the quantities going to his feet whilst at the same time sending equal amounts to his forehead to hold the leaf in place. When he felt he had the right quantities, he ran towards the tree with as much speed as possible.

Others were also watching the spectacle. Hinata gazed first at Naruto and then at her tree, watching his efforts with awe and respect.. She felt emboldened by his efforts, pursuing her own training with ever increasing vigour. Like Sasuke, Kiba used Naruto's example much in the way that Sasuke did, as a stark challenge for him to overcome. With Akamaru at his side, making his own attempt at running up the tree, Kiba pushed his body to its limits and beyond.

Unlike his team mates, Shino drew no emotional strength from watching Naruto train, not in the conventional sense. Most believed that the Aburame were so far removed from humanity, so infested with their own insect hives that they felt no emotion what so ever. But only members of the Aburame could tell you that that rumour was just that, a rumour. They felt emotions but they were trained to reign in those emotions, to become calculating and straightforward as the insects they so respected and use that way of thinking as their weapon. And watching Naruto push his body, Shino could not help but feel a rising well of respect for the boy. It had begun since the mission had begun, small at first but gradually it had grew. Watching Naruto, watching his calm yet carefree approach to life that could so quickly turn to cold determination when facing unknown adversity.

'Uzumaki...san. You are as determined as the dung beetle, and as secretive as the rarest of butterflies. I know of the scroll that you were reading, I learnt it from a friendly Water strider that perched itself atop your shoulder. I know that it contained secrets of my clan, our customs and rituals that no other knows of. Technically I should probably kill you on principle, but I understand your need for secrecy. The information you learned helped you form your plan to free Kurenai-sensei and Kakashi-san from Zabuza's Suiro no jutsu. The words written on that scroll are indeed my fathers...and to tell the truth I agree with him. For our village to be strong, secretive clans like ours need to open ourselves out to others, share our secrets and hard earned wisdom for the benefits of others...' Shino thought, as he paused on a branch to watch a string of ants carry leaf matter for their colony '...but I hope you remember what I told you on that shore. I shall still want to see this Vault that my father spoke of, where I believe you got that scroll. Its only fair, you learn some of our secrets, I learn some of yours.'

The last genin of note was Sakura. For her this exercise was almost too easy, most chakra control exercises were. Other than her smart mind with its large repository of knowledge memorised at the academy, her chakra control was the only other thing Sakura really worked hard on. Sakura watched Naruto, puzzled by the strange feelings she felt towards the boy. Not very long ago, she could have barely stood to have been within one hundred feet of him. Somehow his every act seemed to grind on her patience and push the button of her temper, most notably because of his supposed infatuation towards her. But that seemed like so long ago. Recently, Sakura had undergone a dramatic change.

After Sasuke's 'talk' with her at the Academy, the day they were placed into their squads, she had begun a time of contemplation. Amidst that contemplation as she re-evaluated herself as a shinobi and a person, Sakura looked at her former treatment of the mysterious blonde enigma. She sighed to herself and looked at her team mate, then at Sasuke. 'Naruto...have you always been this strong?' she wondered to herself.

'I once considered Sasuke to be the strongest, to be the best shinobi I knew. But these past few days I have witnessed what you are capable of, and that old view has changed. It's like so much of what I used to believe, every opinion that I used to hold has been thrown back into my face by reality. I'm sorry for how I used to treat you, I can see now that it was childish and spiteful. I've probably always thought that, I just didn't want to feel guilt. But I shall change, I shall become a stronger person. The gap between us may be far, but that gap shall be closed. I swear it...and Naruto. Please, forgive me'

Oblivious to all of the subtle attention being paid to him, Naruto once again hit the floor with a thud after only getting so far up his tree. 'This is weird, practically the same distance up the tree as before. I should have improved slightly more than that. If this is the exercise in effect I can understand perfectly the slow progress, but I get the feeling that it's nothing like that at all. Maybe it's the extra density from my chakra weights causing me to slip up? If I remove one or tow of them, I should be light enough to improve a little.'

Removing his jacket Naruto carefully began to unclip the series of buckles that stretched across the weighted vest. These were simple metal buckles each with a small almost ineligible kanji etched into them, the kanji for mountain. Fastened with strong material these buckles had the purpose of fastening the vest tight to the wearer's body. Once they were all open he felt for the zip behind them, and severed the bonds between his kirakukie and the chakra absorbing metal. As the vest came loose and the bonds were broken, Naruto could suddenly feel a great surging buzz form within his body. The vest hit the floor of the forest with a thud, and Naruto got up with a newfound determination. He looked at the tree like it was smaller than he was, a stripling and nothing more.

Placing the leaf on his forehead, Naruto focused his chakra to both his feet and head. The whole channelling process was done far quicker than beforehand when he was still wearing the vest. With the leaf firmly in place and the sticking sensation was present in his feet. Before he knew it he was rapidly reaching the very most top of his designated tree, high on the buzz of overflowing chakra running through him. 'If this was so hard before, why is it so easy now...' he thought for an instant when his mind was not shouting out 'Whoooooooo' at the top of its voice '...wait, it that the top...shit'

With barely a second to attempt to halt his speeding body, Naruto could only jump backwards as his left foot brushed the treetop. The only problem now was that he was freefalling, and there were no tree's to rebound from this time. So after a moments thought for a solution, he created a Kage Bunshin. Looking the clone in the eyes, Naruto mouthed the silent command "Throw me" to which the clone quickly responded by grabbing Naruto by his leg, twirling him in a circle and releasing him in the direction of his tree.

Catching the treetop with one hand Naruto made sure he was sticking firmly to the bark before he took stock on just what had occurred, or in his own words "What the fuck was that?"

In a thoughtful crouching position Naruto 'sat' and replayed the past five minutes in his head. Every variable went through his mind but it just didn't seem to add up. He needed a second opinion, and he knew just who's deceased brains to pick. Looking across the canopy of green, pausing for a second to admire the amazing scenery of Nami no Kuni. It truly was a beautiful country, and he would be damned if he allowed a pond scum like Gato to poison it with his greed. Breathing in the salty air, Naruto smiled before taking a great chakra enforced leap in the general direction of his training spot. Disappearing through the canopy roof, he angled his descent so he could catch onto a large branch and thus begin leaping through the trees.

His progress was quick, only taking ten minutes ort so, and before he knew it Naruto was landing in the centre of his temporary training area. He needed to have a word with his father and tell him the details of what had occurred. Splitting his chakra in opposite directions had been initially quite difficult, but the moment he took of his weighted vest everything had become much simpler. In fact it was almost too easy, and then there was that incredible buzz he had felt during it, what was all that about. He soon reached the clearing and set about preparing to enter the Shinzui Hashi, this meant making sure that there would be no distractions or intrusions whilst he was in the meditative trance. So to this end he created a small quartet of Kage Bunshin to cover the areas north, south, east and west of him, and once they were in place he sat down and calmed his mind.

**Shinzui Hashi**

Hyuga Hizashi sat patiently on a large tree branch, his back against the bark supporting him. He used to do that all the time as a child, when he and Haiti used to play in the many forests surrounding Konohagakure. Those were idyllic times for him; even though he was still branded with the Hyuga cursed seal and charged with keeping his older twin brother safe by the clan elders. But in the end he had broken himself free the inward spiral of fate that trapped the Branch family of the clan. Albeit it was by choosing how he met his end, but there was still a sense of satisfaction even when he felt his heart stop. And now here he was, forging bonds of friendship with heroes' centuries before his time.

It had been a humbling moment, most of all when he met the founders of his clan. They had heralded as a visionary, one of the few Branch members who ever succeeded in rebelling against the norm. Then he had reunited with his old friend Namikaze Minato, learnt the truth behind the Kyuubi no Kitsune and when asked if he wanted to train the last child of the Uzumaki and Namikaze clan's had jumped at the chance. It would also help that through Naruto he would have a means of keeping some small contact with his son Neji.

His attention was caught as to his surprise he saw Naruto phase from an ethereal shadow into something a little more real in the centre of the clearing (always with the clearings). Naruto looked left and right trying to find any trace of his wayward sire. Usually whenever he materialised within the dimension, Minato seemed to just appear behind or to the side of him as if he had been expecting him to arrive that very instant., which at times was downright creepy. "Yo Oyaji, get your lazy ass out here!"

"Your father is not here Naruto-san, last I heard he was visiting your relatives to update them on your progress. You make your grandfather proud"

Naruto spun around from inspecting a bush to see the impassive face of Hyuga Hizashi. "Wha...oh hey there Hyuga-san. What are you doing here, usually its the old geezer who greets me in this place" Naruto answered, a little unsure of how to talk to the man. He was quite an imposing figure to look at, with the white/lavender eyes on full stare death-con 5.

"Like I said before, Minato-san is visiting his father to talk to him about you. As for the reason why I am here, it is my turn to begin training you remember. You are earlier than I expected though, is there something wrong?"

Naruto scratched the back of his head 'should I say anything to him...might as well. He is one of my new sensei, plus he might know something that Oyaji does not', "Well yeah there was something I wanted to ask about. You see it all started when Kakashi suggested this training exercise for me to try..." he began, relating the experience of the chakra splitting exercise to Hizashi, much in the way he related events to his father. And like his father Hizashi was patient and waited until after Naruto had finished to ask questions.

"So you say once you started the exercise, you could only move so far up the tree before your chakra seemed to cease completely. Well the answer is simple, you had merely approached your chakra division limit."

"Chakra division limit? By what, sending it to my head and my feet at the same time. I think I could separate my chakra a few more times than just two ways"

"Normally yes that is a simple task for an experienced shinobi. But at that time when you attempted to perform the exercise earlier your body was channelling chakra in eight directions, the maximum number that the body can sustain. You see the number eight is a number of significance for a shinobi. Just as there are eight chakra gates, chakra can only be split a total of eight times through the body. You were wearing at the time a pair of greaves, a pair of bracers and a weighted vest. That means at all times your chakra is being directed in five different directions. Added to that is the chakra channelling through to the soles of your feet, and the leaf on your forehead makes eight…"

"…The total amount of time that any shinobi is able to channel chakra in eight directions is one minute, for an experienced shinobi of Hokage level the limit increases to roughly four minutes. The reason why your chakra seemed to cease flowing through your kirakuki is that your chakra could not take the strain of being directed in eight directions for more than the maximum minute, causing it to momentarily dissipate the alleviate the strain. It you need an example to relate it too, consider when the blood vessels in the nose rupture to alleviate the pressure of a headache by creating a small flow of blood..." Hizashi said, finishing with a pause to allow the boy to absorb what he had said.

When he could see Naruto nodding, Hizashi continued his analysis "...that leaves the sudden surge of chakra you felt when you removed the vest..." he stopped to rub his chin and hummed a little "...you say that the vest is laced with a metal that absorbs and holds chakra..." Naruto nodded "...well then, if you look at it logically the answer once again is rather simple. That sudden surge of chakra that you felt was the overflow from when you severed the connection to the vest."

Naruto just stared dumbly, before shaking his head several times, before smacking himself in the forehead. 'Of course, its so simple. I wear the vest constantly with the slight exception of when I am sleeping at night, so my body is always under the effects of a small drain on my chakra, like a bucket with a small hole drilled into the bottom. My chakra has gradually become used to this small drain and now naturally produces the small level of chakra needed by the weights automatically…'

'…The small gap in chakra is then automatically refilled and the cycle repeats itself over and over constantly throughout the day. The sudden rush was the chakra normally created for the vest, but with no place to go it could only power its way through my body. Wow, that's a weird side effect, and I can only guess that this fresh surge could only increase if I were to remove the greaves or bracers as well...or increase the chakra level and thus increase the weight on my body from the generated gravity field. How could I not see that.'

"By now you should have figured everything out, so I think it would be best if we were to strike while the iron is hot. Originally you were going to meet me for our training session later on today, but now you are here it would be good to make use of the time."

"You want to train me now?"

"Yes"

"But what about the others, won't they come looking at me. I did leave them without saying where I was going, wont they come looking for me?"

"Perhaps, but time runs differently here to the mortal plane. It varies but one minute there could be over an hour here, also I think Kakashi knows that at the very least you know how to defend yourself. But like I said before, lets strike while the iron is hot and press on"

"Alright then, sure. So how does this training work out, you just tell me what I have to do then I do it."

"Something like that. I cannot mould chakra here, which hinders demonstrations somewhat, but those areas shall be covered by simple dictation. Everything else I can thankfully still do, kata, movement demonstration and so on.!

"Okay, so what exactly are you going to be teaching me?"

Hizashi took a moment to bend down and pluck several blades of grass from the floor. He then shredded them piece-by-piece of grass, and once that was done he began to answer Naruto's question. "Every member of the group that you saw yesterday, from the Shodaime-sama to myself were briefed by Minato-san on your current abilities, the training you have undergone and any other relevant information that he believed may be useful for us to know. Some of this information detailed the night you stole the Forbidden Scroll from the Sandaime's home, and the jutsu that you wrote and further memorised from that scroll. But you did not just write about jutsu did you Naruto-san?"

Naruto thought for a second, before his memory pulled out the information pertaining the Forbidden Scroll and what he had copied. "Yeah, I also copied some of the training technique's it had, as well as that cool taijutsu style. It struck me as funny that in a scroll filled with forbidden ninjutsu there would be only a single style of taijutsu, so I thought at the time it would be a good idea to copy it all down. I managed to write down the movements, the kata, some of the special techniques and disciplines involved with it, everything that was there. Now what was it called again…oh yeah, it was the…"

"…Kyuuten Kaihousho style" Hizashi finished for him.

"Yeah, that was it. Why are you bringing this up anyway Hizashi-san" Naruto asked as politely as he could.

"Because I want you to learn that style. All of the training that you undertake as my pupil shall be orientated around broadening your taijutsu prowess, since the Juken style of my clan has been heralded as one of the most potent styles in the entire world."

"If that's true, then why not teach me the Juken now and focus on Kyuuten Kaihousho later. Plus if you taught me the Juken now, I could use it to help Hinata"

Hizashi paused for some time, looking out into the woods. Breathing in slowly, he returned his gaze to Naruto and said "What do you know of Kyuuten Kaihousho. Its history, not how to perform its technique's"

"Not much. I have noticed the similarities between its attacks and the Juken's, the way they are both made with clear and unblockable purpose. Also, there is mentioned that masters of the style were able to manipulate the flow of chakra through the body in a manner similar to that of Juken users" Naruto answered, counting off the facts using his fingers.

"Yes. And to understand that, I must recant to you a legend passed down through the Hyuga clan for generations, dating back to before Konohagakure was even an idea in the minds of its founders, the legend of the Juken. It all began with a monastery built hidden away in the Firebrand mountain regions in the south of Ho no Kuni. There lived a sect of monks known as the Brethren of the Open Palm, a pacifistic group whose aim was to achieve spiritual enlightenment so that they may aid in the betterment of their fellow man. Their ideas were considered to be highly radical in that time, making them targets for assassination by feudal lords who wanted their voices silenced. So to defend themselves, the monks created a gentle style of combat to reflect both their distaste for violence and their need for protection…"

"…They called this style Kyuuten Kaihousho, after the spiritual nature of its users. As many were accomplished scholars, the brotherhood made it their business to research into anything they believed might be helpful to others, and through some of their studies into the workings of the body and spirit they discovered many things that today are common knowledge for any shinobi. They discovered the kirakukie or internal chakra network that acts as channels through our bodies for the flow of chakra. They discovered the eight inner gates and tenketsu points, and in the discovery of the latter also began the research into how those points might be influenced in some way. Now these discoveries might have been impossible for regular humans had not three of the monks living at the monastery been early members of the Hyuga clan…"

"…This was in the day when our fabled bloodline the Byakugan was too in its infancy, having only become apparent in the recent generations at the time. Our forefathers knew nothing of the Byakugan's abilities beyond being able to see for great distances, so three of the clan became members of the brotherhood in order to learn the secrets of our doujutsu for the clan. After the discoveries that the Byakugan could 'see' the kirakuki, the three Hyuga monks began creating with the permission of the head monk a secondary style to Kyuuten Kaihousho using the knowledge of manipulating chakra within the body as one of its core ideals. This style eventually evolved into the latter day Juken style, and became the signature skill of the Hyuga clan…"

"…Their attacks became more refined and precise as their prowess with the Byakugan increased, and then the entered what I believe to be its most dire period. This was the time when those three Hyuga clan members returned to their family, they returned to the clan. There they met with the elders and told them all they had learnt and created, and with that knowledge they laid down what they believed to be the necessary laws needed to preserve the Byakugan for the clan. They created the Main House and the Branch house, and so our clan was forever split in two…"

"…You see Naruto, during their spiritual awakenings into the powers of the Byakugan and the abilities it granted them, those three clan members had come to almost revere it. It became their most precious gift, their most important treasure. A treasure that they believed needed to be guarded with the utmost care. In my view...they had became monsters. At the time anyone would have done the same as they did, but if those three could see what the clan has become, how insular and proud our family is now...well I think they would take back every last thought and idea that they had found in that monastery."

Hizashi then remembered who he was talking too, and did what to Naruto was a very un-Hyuga-like thing to do. He smiled awkwardly and made several warding gestures with his hands. "Gomen Naruto-san, I am sorry for adding my own personal thoughts into the tale. You have to understand that my time alive as a part of the Branch house of the clan was...troubled."

Naruto could only nod, so enthralled was he by the older mans story. To think that the simple series of images and smatterings of information that he had copied from the Forbidden scroll in his naivety could have such history, such presence. Now his blood was well and truly boiling at the thought of learning and integrating such a style into his won taijutsu. He had already begun to do just that with the Goken techniques that Lee had taught him (as Lee had been doing, his Tatewaru Ken was a testament to that). Adding Jyuken style chakra attacks and tenketsu halting pressure points to the blunt power strikes of the Goken and the precision movements of Wing Chun, a potent mixture indeed. Then there was the Capoeira and Judo that he had read up on for throws, pins and graceful manoeuvres, he wasn't done yet with integrating different styles of taijutsu just yet.

"So Naruto, are you ready to begin your instruction" asked Hizashi, his composure restored to its flawless mask. Naruto could only grin and nod...this was going to be fun.

**Real World**

Hinata slowly made her way through the trees, moving in a linear direction towards what her eyes told her was Naruto. She had stopped to wait for his return like the rest of the group, all distracted by his sudden triumphant disappearance up the tree. He had gone up like a bullet, Hinata clearly saw the corona of chakra emanating from his core. Her Byakugan was yet to reach the potency of her cousin Neji's or even her sisters, who could both make out and pinpoint the tenketsu points and see in minute detail for distances of up to a kilometre.

Her Byakugan could barely see up to half that distance and she had to strain hard to see any great details in objects. But ever since that battle with the three assassins, and that terrifying swordsman Zabuza her skill with her bloodline doujutsu had escalated rapidly. Looking at Naruto she could now clearly make out his kirakuki, and her general perception had increased overall as well. Using this sudden boost in skill, she had boldly asked Kurenai if she could leave the group for a while to go search for where Naruto had gone off too. Kurenai had readily said yes, a knowing smile painted clearly on her face as she looked to Kakashi and nodded.

Her eyes were on a complete 360-degree sweep as far as they could go, and so far she had found roughly the direction that Naruto had moved in. Slight indentations in the bark of tree branches, leaves that had been freshly disturbed, these signs were all slowly leading her, and now she could just on the cusp of her sight see a large clearing ahead of her, And there under the roots of one of the huge tree's ringing the area was Naruto, meditating of all things.

Looking hard at the stationary form of her crush, Hinata blushed. He looked so peaceful like that, compared to the boundless ball of energy she had watched growing up, even the calm and collected new Naruto that she had seen emerge overnight. She stood at the edge of the clearing, watching from behind a tree like she always seemed to do. For the seventh time that day Hinata began to curse her low confidence for holding her back, but remarkably found herself stopping.

The past few days had been a sort of epiphany for her. There would have been a time when being close to Naruto for more than a couple of minutes would have sent her into a coma, but after these past few days she was fine being near him for however long was necessary. All her life she had watched Naruto, who never faltered no matter how many times he had fallen, and she drew confidence from watching him rise up. To her it was the greatest example of standing against adversity, and now that she could stand by that example it was like being near a fountain of positive feelings. She could feel little by little she was growing as a person, just by being on this mission with Naruto.

A sudden pulse of chakra alerted her from her reverie, and she began to see with her eyes several large wisps of chakra emanate from his core and spiral around his body. As she looked deeper, her Byakugan straining slightly at the pressure it was undergoing. The spirals of blue chakra slowly funnelled themselves above his head, triggering some sort of reaction from two...seals. One spiral seal on his stomach, and another strange pentacle shaped seal on the back of his head. The chakra formed a ball as more spirals were born, then through the ball Hinata could see several dark shapes begin to form. She couldn't quite make them out, but their very existence was enough to send shivers down her spine. 'Why does Naruto-kun have those seals on his body? What is happening to him...wait, the black shapes. They're starting to become more defined'

Indeed the shapes were, and Hinata could only gasp as she saw through the blackness an exact mirror reflection of the clearing. Every detail was the same, the tree's the clouds in the sky, everything. Except for the two figures present in the reflected place, both of whom she definitely knew. The smaller of the two was without a doubt Naruto, and the second one was...her father. No wait, it was her fathers face but not his face. A memory from when she was very young pushed up through the murk of her mind, the memory of a tall man smiling down at her on her third birthday. 'Uncle Hizashi!?' she thought, unsure of how Naruto was projecting the images. She was sure he had never even met her departed uncle, so how could he know to project his image.

She became even more perplexed when the images began to spin and undulate once more, disrupting the image of her uncle and Naruto talking. Strangely composed throughout this strange episode, Hinata soon found herself unable to cope with the next image. Her bottom lip began to tremble and her shoulders shake, as tears streaked their way down her pale face from her lavender eyes. Tied to her emotional state, her Byakugan deactivated and she lost all sight of the whirling miasma of chakra emanating from Naruto, and she collapsed to the ground crying softly to herself.

She lay there crying and crying for what felt to be forever, until she felt two strong hands grip her back and legs and pull her upwards. She opened her eyes and saw Naruto as he lay her down at the base of a tree, before sitting down in front of her.

"You okay Hinata? I was just walking through here looking for everyone when I found you crying on the floor. Is something the matter?" he asked, no malice or accusing tones to his voice, just sincerity and worry.

Hinata looked at Naruto for a second, before flinging her arms around him and burying her head in his shoulders, crying her eyes out once again. To his credit Naruto was initially frozen stiff with embarrassment, but softened up enough to drape his arms around Hinata's own shoulders and hold her in a soft hug. He rocked back and forth gently, trying to sooth the weeping girl.

"I'm s...sorry Naruto-kun, but I couldn't h...help myself. I came all the w...way out here find you...looking with my Byakugan. Then I s...saw you over by the tree meditating, and I looked at you a little harder..." she tightened the grip on his back "...I'm sorry Naruto-kun, but I saw everything. The weird chakra floating a...around your body, the small window in the s...shadowy world, you and Uncle Hizashi talking everything. But then I saw her, and I just couldn't...I..." she gave up after that, and just wept into Naruto's black top.

Naruto audibly gulped, he was well and truly busted. But what Hinata said also raised several new key points. It appeared that whilst his soul was in Shinzui Hashi, his chakra created a window into the dimension. But that window could only be seen by those who knew how to see chakra with their naked eyes, an impossible feat for most, except those who had kekkai genkai doujutsu. "Who did you see Hinata...?" he asked tentatively. An explanation would be in order, he owed her that. But he had never told anyone about his special jutsu, how much could he tell her.

'Wait...' he thought '...I think its about time at least somebody knew the whole truth. And Hinata is the perfect one, she is a kind and faithful person who wont break the trust of anyone. Yeah, I'll tell her everything, then I'll have this great weight off my chest'

Hinata pulled herself away from Naruto's clothing just enough to mumble "O...okaasan". Then she realised just what she had been doing, 'eeped' and pulled away fast, blushing a deep crimson. She had just been crying into Naruto's shoulder without a seconds thought. And he had been hugging her, that thought made her blush even more.

Naruto looked at her, searching for the signs of any lies, though he doubted the girl to have a malicious bone in her body. He sighed, drooping his head a little, before resuming his neutral yet warm posture looking into the trees above them. "There is an explanation to all of this, but it involves me telling you several long and complicated stories. I have to ask you to keep a fairly open mind about all that I tell you..." Hinata sniffed, wiped her eyes and nodded "...okay, it all started about two months ago..."

Naruto started from the beginning when Mizuki attacked him. Speaking little at first, words steadily trickled out of his mouth faster and faster, until like a river bursting from its banks he was narrating in great detail everything and I mean everything. He told her about the Shinten Koyou Fuin, how it got there and how it had affected him. There was Earth meets Sky and all of the training he had done, the Shinzui Hashi and what that allowed him to do. There he paused to explain that as she was gazing into a window into the afterlife, Hinata's emotions had most likely allowed her mother to just for an instant find her through the ether. He told her how he had just the previous day met several shinobi straight from the history books and what they had planned for him. He told her about the Densetsu no Ku and the legend surrounding them. And finally, in order to explain everything else he needed to land the bombshell about his true father, his heritage and most notably the Kyuubi. He knew he was taking a gamble, but something in his heart told Naruto that what he was doing was for the best.

Hinata sat there listening intently, her mouth gradually opening bit by teeny tiny bit as each knew astounding fact was burned into her memory. A couple of tears spilled from her eyes at the explanation on her seeing her mother, but she wiped those away quickly. It all seemed to make sense, the rapid changes in the Naruto she had known all now made perfect sense. And when he revealed to her his fathers identity, and the nature of the demon sealed within him, she couldn't help but whimper in sorrow.

'You are truly a noble person Naruto-kun. You have lived your entire life facing the villager's hatred, never knowing the reasons why they despised you so. And now, even after knowing the truth, you can still find it in your heart to let those insults go and move on. It was a terrible sacrifice the Yondaime made, sealing such a monstrous evil within you, but if anything it has made you so much more stronger. You should have been hailed as a saviour, but instead you were damned as a demon from the pits of hell itself. How can I or anyone live up to the example you have given me...Naruto-kun'

Hinata then noticed the look on Naruto's face, an ashen sickly look like he had swallowed bad medicine. "So...uh...you aren't going to run away. I am a demon you know..." he said hesitantly, and for the second time that week he felt Hinata's hand slap across his face. "Ow, what was that for..." he moaned, rubbing his sore cheek to ease the pain.

Hinata had gotten up, pulling Naruto physically up with her. With a sudden surge of confidence and strength, she pinned Naruto against the nearby tree and looked at him hard in the eyes. Then with calm determination she spoke "You. Are. Not. A. Demon, Naruto-kun. You are to me as you have always been. You are a strong person, who has stood up no matter how many times you have been knocked down. How could you be anything else to me or anyone who knows you for who you are?"

"Everyone else doesn't think that" Naruto admitted to himself, for the first time in a very long time.

"They are idiots. Idiots whose opinions will change once they have witnessed your inner strength first hand. Is it not your dream to become Hokage. Well you are closer to this dream today than you ever were before, because you have taken a step that few ever take. You have reached out to another and poured out your heart unashamedly, and now you can carry on knowing that the burden you have carried it now that little bit lighter."

Naruto just stared onwards dumbly, Hinata's words sinking in deep. 'Damn this girl had a way with words. That's the second time in three days that she has given me a wake up call. And I mean what a wake up call' he thought, impressed with Hinata's sudden fortitude. But that fortitude disappeared as the old Hinata resurfaced, making the girl blush, apologise and bow several times. Waving his arms in front of his chest to get her attention, Naruto shouted "Okay I get it, stop with the apologies Hinata there's nothing to apologies about. You told me the truth, exactly what you were feeling, so that's something you shouldn't go back on..."

The pale young girl stopped and looked up, a rosy tint to her cheeks. Naruto continued in a quieter tone of voice "...If anything this has just opened up a great opportunity. I told you that your uncle Hizashi is training me in a taijutsu style that mimics Jyuken attacks..." she nodded "...well today's my lucky day, because my new confidante is none other than a Jyuken specialist. If we help and train with each other, we can both become much much stronger real easy. It'll be great" he said with his patented foxy grin, hands behind his head as always.

At hearing those words Hinata seemed to shrink within herself. Noticing her slumped diminished look instantly, Naruto asked "What's up Hinata, is it something I said?"

"N...no Naruto-kun. I'd love to help, its just that...well...I'm not really that good at Jyuken. Terrible, I really am terrible at it" Hinata mumbled, playing with her fingers like she always did when she was uncomfortable. She said the words as if they were a litany, or some dogma that had been drilled into her mind.

"And who told you that" he asked, knowing the answer before she said it.

"O...otousan. Whenever he teaches me, or rather used to teach me, he would always scold me and say that I am not good enough. And I really am not, my sister Hanabi beats me all the time when we spar, so he must be right. He is always right, and I am a failure because of that."

Each word was like a pin to Naruto's skin, pricking the surface and quickly getting under it. 'So that's why her self-confidence is always so shot. With daddy dearest telling her constantly that she is a failure, she has come to accept those words as the literal truth. What a bastard'

Placing his arms on her shoulders, mimicking exactly the look she had minutes ago given him Naruto said with his own sense of conviction. "Hinata, your father is a liar. You are strong, just not as strong as he wants you to be. You are the heir of the clan, and the heir always has to be the strongest in order to protect the clan in the future right. He is trying to motivate you to be better, but his methods stink to high heaven if you ask me. All you need is a little guidance and you can be stronger than your sister, your father and the whole clan combined. Even Neji, who as I understand it is the freakin clan prodigy."

"You know Neji-neesan"

"I've had the...unfortunate pleasure of fighting him. He kicked my ass, but that's only because I was a little bit inexperienced with my new capabilities. Plus I was angry as hell which clouded my judgement. Anyways here's the deal. From now on you and me train together, you help me with Kyuuten Kaihousho, and I help you with the Jyuken and anything else you need working on."

Hinata gulped and shook her head "But I cant..." she began to say, but was interrupted by Naruto's hand.

"Yes, you can Hinata. No more, nothing will ever hold you back. Once we are done, you are going to be a changed person. Gone will be the unconfident Hinata who hides from her fears, she will be replaced by a new Hinata. One who is confident and proud of herself and her skills, one who never looks back but only looks forwards. You shall emerge a shinobi, a Hyuga whose name shall be repeated by your clan and by Konohagakure no Sato for generations to come"

Hinata looked dumbfounded at her crush, tears leaking from already red eyes. Holding Naruto once more, she could only mouth "Thank you" softly, before a sudden wave of exhaustion overtook her. Naruto couldn't help but smiled at her a little, after all they were now in this thing together. And maybe Hinata would merely be the first, maybe he might end up sharing the truth with everyone, he just did not know. "C'mon, lets get you back to the others" he said, picking her up piggyback style before shooting off into the tree's.

**Day Three**

After returning Hinata to Tazuna's house, Naruto had made a beeline for the rest of the group. After explaining the situation to Kakashi (limiting the level of truth just a little) Naruto went on to give Sakura and Shino pointers on the Tree Climbing exercise (Kiba also listened in on the mini lesson, but that was only what he had Akamaru listen in to for him) and then take part in a surprisingly funny incident with Sasuke attempting to interrogate him for answers on the 'Advanced Tree Climbing' he had seen Naruto do. Because he was in a good mood Naruto relented to the Uchiha's questions and answered to the best of his ability. This compliancy greatly shocked Sasuke, who had been expecting and almost relishing the possible argument.

His training and everyone else's was continuing apiece after the previous day. Sakura and Shino had by mid-morning reached the top of their respective tree's, with Sasuke and Kiba reaching two thirds of their trees. The advice that Naruto had given them had really hit the spot for everyone, it was so precise it was almost scary, as if he knew without being told their individual shortcomings. Both Kakashi and Kurenai noted the remarkable improvements, and were already planning amongst themselves what to do next. The idea that they were most happy with was that once all of the genin had as a group finished the Tree Climbing exercise, then they would alternate them in groups of two between either guarding Tazuna or training for the confrontation with Zabuza and his nuke-nin group.

As for Naruto and Hinata, they had at the blonde's discretion retreated to train by themselves at his semi-hidden clearing. Under Naruto's supervision, Hinata had begun to undergo what he called a 'crash course' in chakra moulding exercises, so as to further refine her already well-honed abilities. This was to prepare her for the rigorous Jyuken based training he would be doing alongside her, to bring her in line with him. She knew what her father had drilled into her, how to project chakra from her tenketsu to perform Jyuken techniques, but beyond that and the small explanation on Tree Climbing she had off Kurenai the previous day her scope was limited.

So to that end Naruto had spent all of the previous night devising a training list for Hinata to go through. It all began with the mastering of Tree Climbing, moving on swiftly after with Water Walking and Chakra Burning. The latter of the two would be most important for Hinata, whose stamina and chakra potential was sadly lacking when compared with the other genin. Only Sakura ranked beneath her, and that was all down to Sakura's lack of hijutsu to fall back on. Chakra Burning would hopefully increase Hinata's reserves by a substantial amount, enough to allow her access to some more heavy-duty jutsu in the future.

'Like you said dad, its all about creating a strong base to build from' Naruto thought as he watched Hinata's progress up her tree. She was almost four fifths of the way up the tree, almost at the top. The pointers that Naruto had supplied her with were really paying off. He explained in as much detail as he could the exact quantity of chakra necessary for the exercise. He then advised her to use her Byakugan to watch the levels of chakra flowing through her feet. That way if the quantity began to dip and the effect wear off, then she could immediately alter the flow to correct everything. And it was working quite well if her rapid progress was anything to go by.

There was one more idea Naruto had to help Hinata, and to put it into action he needed to go into the town and search out for the proper materials. He would make her some weighted fingerless forearm gloves. Fingerless gloves to allow for Jyuken technique's, with material that covers the forearms. This extended area would have pouches for weights sown into it. The weights would help build strength in her limbs as well as the added benefit of increasing attack speed...brilliant.

"Hey Hinata. I need to go and get something from Kakashi-sensei. Stay here and keep doing the exercise, I wanna see some improvement by the time I get back okay...your doing great so far." Hinata nodded and continued her exercises. Naruto smiled at her dedication and ran off in the direction of the town.

**Wave Town**

It took him some time to track down everything he needed. There was almost nothing in the way of materials or anything to be found. "This place really must be hurt pretty bad by this mess with Gato. I hope the bridge helps them, but then again its still not solved. For that to occur Gato needs to be taken down...maybe permanently." he said, looking around at the despondent people ambling about the street he was walking down.

One of those people looked up from his morose thoughts, and seeing Naruto immediately moved forwards. Grabbing him by the shoulders, which shocked Naruto as it naturally would, he looked with hope at Naruto's face. "Mizurasen...my old friend its you"

**Authors Notes**

The last of the updates, it is finally over. Once I started, everything moved in fits and starts, and to all of you readers I apologise wholeheartedly. Every time I went to type something, life intervened with exams, homework and all of the downsides the education system has to offer (I kid, honestly I am quite studious). So my deadlines were always pushed back, but no more. Now I am done updating, on with the story.

If anyone has any comments on updates, or has spotted some mistakes that I have missed, please inform me. I love receiving critical advice, it always helps an author sharpen his skills. And to the people who I asked to be my betas, I must apologising. After a little thought, I realised that I do most of the beta work myself. I double check for errors (most of the time) and I come up with idea's fairly easily. But if you like all of the other readers would be so kind as to review my work, I would be most honoured.

**Kagetentei** - Shadow lord

**Densetsu no Kyunin** - The Legendary Nine Shinobi

**Kiri no Shinobigatana Shichinin Sho** – Legendary Seven Swordsmen of the Mist

**Kyuuten Kaihousho** – Heavens Open Palm

**Shinzui Komyu** – Spirit Commune


	10. Chapter 9: Memories of Pain

Chapter 10 - Memories of Pain

**Naruto Legacy of the Hokages**

**By Lysander45**

**Disclaimer:** I do not and never will own Naruto, no matter how much I want too. Any and all characters, jutsu and places that I create are mine; if you want to use them please ask permission.

" Speech

' Thoughts

() Jutsu translations/authors voice/usual use for brackets that I cannot be bothered to describe

Italic memories/writing/Spirit voice

Bold emphasis on word

… Pause during speech

**Chapter 9 - Memories of Pain**

Naruto stared at the man like he had grown a second head, an extra pair of limbs and had begun to dance some form of rudimentary cha cha cha. "What did you just call me?" he asked politely, his interest peaked by the strange name. Water Spiralling, it sounds more like a ninjutsu than a name.

The old man laughed, a pleasant laugh though a little on the asthmatic side, rattling through his ribs. "You never change. Fine then, I'll stop with the nickname I know you hate it. How did you survive Kenpachi? Was your execution an illusion to fool Gatou?"

Naruto waved his hands in front of him, "Look old man, I don't know who you are or this Kenpachi guy is, but my name is Uzumaki Naruto. You must have me confused with somebody else that's all."

"Uzumaki...Naruto? I know you were always one for alias's Kenpachi, but why use your clan name for this one" the man replied puzzled..

Naruto narrowed his eyes as he thought with suspicion 'Clan name? What does he mean clan name.' He opened his mouth to say something, but was interrupted by a familiar gruff voice.

"Hey Naruto, fancy meeting you here." It was Tazuna, accompanied by a silent Shino and a fuming Sakura. She had fire in her eyes and was muttering under her breath about perverted pickpockets. Looking around the group, Naruto could see the culprit white as a sheet with a huge bruise on his left cheek. Half-embedded in a wall, it was clear that he had fallen for the kunoichi's explosive rage, an experience he would probably never wish to repeat.

"Oh! Tazuna-san, Shino, Sakura, what are you all doing here?"

"Tsunami-san needs root vegetables for tonight's stew. We were the pair assigned to guard Tazuna-san for today, so it's our job to accompany him" drawled Shino in his usual monotone.

Sakura nodded "We were almost finished when we met you"

Tazuna meanwhile was looking at the old man who was keeping close to Naruto. His eyes lit up when he recognised him "Hey Shibumi, I almost didn't recognise you for a minute. How have you been, feeling better?"

The man named Shibumi looked at Tazuna and broke out in a smile "Tazuna, welcome back. Hey you'll never guess who I found..." he grabbed Naruto by the shoulders "...look Tazuna. Its Mizurasen, he really didn't die out there with Kaiba, he's alive. And now he's here, we have our village champion back, and Gatou has no power over us" he said, gleefully shifting on his feet.

Tazuna sighed and shook his head, muttering under his breath "Still not good huh..." before raising his tone to talk directly to the man "...Mizurasen...Kenpachi is dead. We all watched as Gatou had he and Kaiba executed. For all his ninjutsu, for all his abilities he still died that day. It was a noble death true, but he is really gone. Look at the boy, look hard. He is not your our old friend Shibumi, you should know that in your heart"

Shibumi looked at Tazuna like a child unwilling to hear an adult's wisdom. He looked at Naruto, directly in the eyes with an intensity that really spooked the boy. Tears drew a line down his leathery face, as reason finally pierced through the clouds of uncertainty. In an almost inaudible, pained voice Shibumi spoke to Naruto. "Gomenesai. I thought you were somebody I knew...my mistake."

He turned his back to the group and began to walk away, pausing for a moment to just say "See you round Tazuna...hope the bridge goes well. Kami knows we need some good fortune around here"

The gruff, self-proclaimed 'Master Bridge builder' watched his old friend walk away, muttering under his breath "See ya around Shibumi...you poor mad bastard". The genin were all left puzzled by the exchange between the two men, but decided to leave any questions they had for another time. Naruto joined them and together they finished the shopping and headed back to Tazuna's home.

It didn't take them long to meander their way through the towns streets, making the occasional detour to avoid one of Gato's 'trusties'. These were men hired by Gato to act like friendly villagers and spy on anyone who might cause their benefactor trouble. Dirty jobs performed by slimy evil people, but these were people created by the incomprehensible weight of poverty. Once they got there, Tsunami informed them that lunch would be ready in half an hour, so Naruto left to inform the others.

**Elsewhere**

Gato had never been a confident man. He grew up in a harbour city in Kumo no Kuni, and was bullied by the other kids in his neighbourhood because of his poor clothes, he never had any money for anything. His mother was a prostitute with a drug habit, his father her pimp and dealer. Any money they earned was spent on themselves, Gato always had to go without everything. So he had vowed at a young age to never be poor again. Whatever it took, he would always have mo0ney in his pocket, lots of it.

So he started small, working for his father until he gained enough small allies within the criminal underworld to afford a takeover. He quickly learnt with enough money, you could do anything, own anything. He didn't kill his father, or his mother for that matter, he paid somebody else to do that. Then using his small foothold he made a series of hostile takeovers large and small, gaining more power and more money with every assimilated group. And the Gato Shipping Corporation was born.

But he was still an unconfident coward at heart, behind all of the bluffs and image. That was why he had Waragi and Zouri, his samurai bodyguards. They backed up his tough talk with their skilful use of their katana's. This in turn created a viscous cycle for Gato and his ego. He mouths off to the right or wrong people, and his lack of self confidence causes him to turn to hired muscle to back him up. He draws confidence from this false sense of power and his ego inflates itself making him feel untouchable. This lead him to shout of more obscenities and threats, thus renewing the cycle over and over.

His current situation was a testament to that cycle. Here he was, facing down a cold blooded psychopath with countless kills under his belt, surrounded by like minded highly skilled psychopaths and monsters, and what was he Gato Hiro doing but shooting his falsified mouth off.

"You have some nerve coming back here after what you did Zabuza, what with that beating you received at the hands of that old fool Tazuna's bodyguards. The way I heard it, most of it some bruises came from a kid, a young rookie punk, an amateur. Hm, seems the shinobi from Kirigakure are not as good as they claim to be, you cant even clean up after your lousy subordinates. 'Demon of the Mist', what a load of bullshit"

There was a sudden spike of killing intent, emanating from the bed where the 'Demon' was recuperating. Beside him was what Gato had always assumed to be a young boy, albeit a very feminine boy. His bodyguards reacted immediately to the threat, their thumbs subtly starting to unsheathe their nodachi with two very distinct clicking noises. 'Hehe, nobody, not even Momochi Zabuza can touch me' he thought to himself vainly, and before his rational side could stop it his mouth was once again writing some very expensive checks.

"Wait you two, I'll handle this..." he approached the bed slowly, his cane moving with his as a natural extension of his body "...well Zabuza, aren't you even going to say anything. Anything at all, no last words?" he finished, reaching in with his hand to push at the helpless 'Demon'. In a moment of lucidity, Gato even considered strangling the nuke-nin while he lay there, then all of his followers would naturally bow down to his superiority.

But his hand didn't get that far, as his arm was suddenly and painfully held in a vicelike grip, originating from the young 'boy'. "Don't you dare touch him" the 'boy' snarled, his high pitched timbre dropping dangerously.

"My arm let me go you insolent little..." Gato began to say, his bodyguards receiving the unspoken order to cut the child down. They moved with lethal speed, their hands grasping at...thin air. For a split second everything fell deadly silent, as the two swordsmen froze where they stood, sharp metal pressing against their necks. Between them stood the 'boy', grasping both their swords in his arms holding them crossed over one another. They were fast...he, apparently, was faster.

"Its not a good idea to do such things around me...not when I am angry" he warned, twirling the swords in his hands and stabbing them hard into the floor of the room. Gato and his bodyguards gulped audibly, and in an instant the short podgy millionaire was at the door leaving as fast as he could. If Zabuza had such monsters at his disposal, he needed to get out of there fast. But he still couldn't help himself, shouting in as threatening a voice as he could muster, "No more slip ups you hear me Zabuza. One more chance, then you and all of your followers are history!"

The trio left in a hurry, making their way out of the compound to the nearby inlet where they had stashed their boat. Once their presence was gone from her senses, Haku allowed her finely tuned guard to drop. "You didn't need to do that Haku" Zabuza said quietly, his hand clutching weakly at kunai.

The teenage girl sighed and shook her head, "I know, but its to soon to kill Gato. We might cause a commotion, and that might draw them again. The last time the hunter-nin almost caught us was a narrow escape we cannot afford again."

"Ah yes I remember. Ame no Kuni, we lost Raiga and Ranmaru, an unacceptable loss. Ranmaru's kekkai genkai rivalled Konoha's Byakugan and Raiga...Raiga was one of my oldest comrades. One of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist, we trained together. Of course he was also a homicidal maniac, but then again I seem to attract that sort of company" Zabuza mused.

"Oh I wonder why you think that" Haku muttered under her breath, giggling softly to herself.

**Tazuna's Home (Obviously)**

Lunch was a quiet affair, everyone keeping to their own thoughts as they dined on rice balls and tea. "So father, how is the bridge coming along?" Tsunami asked, trying to break the awkward silence overhanging the meal.

"Three more men left today, including Giichi" Tazuna grumbled back, sullen from the days events. He had taken time to wash a little before lunch, to clean the dirt and grime from he had acquired from working on the bridge. It was a measure he only took for guests if Tsunami's insightful words were to be held true. The only sign that the middle aged man had spent a day performing hard labour were the muscles in his arms and back taught from accustomed overexertion.

Some finished quicker than others, but out of courtesy and politeness they all stayed at the table to wait for everyone else to finish. Except for Inari, who immediately shoved himself out of his seat the minute his last mouthful had entered his mouth. Everyone was silent as he walked upstairs and slammed his bedroom door.

"I hope this isn't a tasteless question, but why does Inari behave like that? He never talks to everyone, always staying in his room all of the time?" Kurenai asked suddenly. It wasn't in her nature to usually ask many questions of others, she preferred to be told things willingly. But occasionally curiosity won over patience.

"He's always been like that...ever since the incident occurred" Tazuna slurred, starting on a bottle of sake that Tsunami had laid out for the adults. "It seemed like so long ago when Kaiza came to this land. He was a fisherman who had come here seeking his fortune. He saved Inari from drowning when he was a boy, after he was thrown into the sea by some local bullies. We don't really know what he said, but Kaiza said something that changed Inari forever…"

"…They became inseparable the two of them, and over time Kaiza just became a natural part of the family. Since Inari's father died when he was a baby, he sort of adopted Kaiza. Or Kaiza adopted him, either way their bond grew from strength to strength. It was almost like Kaiza had always been here, a part of this community, this family. He even saved the town once, risking his life to close a floodgate during a storm. He and Mizurasen were heroes to this town...then Gato came."

Tsunami was unable to help herself and broke down into tears by the sink. The whole group were affected by her sorrow, it was palpable in the air. "Then that incident you talked about occurred..." Kakashi said, turning to Tazuna for further answers "...so what happened?"

"In front of the entire city, Gatou had our two heroes Mizurasen and Kaiza executed" Tazuna exclaimed darkly. Everyone gulped audibly, and Tazuna continued with his foreboding tale. "The pair of them disappeared during negotiations with Gato; they had tried to reason with the man. But some of the more radical men amongst us tried to force Gato to leave. They burnt down one of 'his' warehouses, and Mizurasen and Kaiza were blamed. By the time we saw them again, they were both almost unrecognisable. Their arms had been hacked off, their bodies visibly broken, their faces just a mass of bruises…"

"…Gato claimed in his big speech to us all that the pair of them had committed great crimes against his organisation. That they had openly denounced the activities of the organization. They incited sabotage, terrorism and disrupted the order of the land. That they were to face the penalties for their actions, death, immediately. And just like that they were both beheaded. From that day onwards, Inari changed everyone changed. We became hollow inside, half of what we were. This is why this bridge is so essential. These people need an emblem of courage, something to rouse them out of their enforced path of least-resistance, so we can all hold our heads with dignity and pride once again."

Then at that moment Naruto had one of his few and far between, mini-epiphanies. He recalled a moment the other day, when he had heard crying from Inari's room and his mind was emboldened. He would prove to that small boy that heroes still existed in the world. Also, he felt a small urge to seek out the old man from earlier. He got up out of his chair and wordlessly moved towards the door.

"Where are you going Naruto?" Sakura asked.

Turning to look over his back at the group and grinned. "After hearing a story like that, you honestly expect me to sit still. I am going to prove to Inari that there are still heroes in the world!"

Smiles slowly spread across the group, and amazingly enough it was Sasuke who answered for them all. "Well don't just stand there dobe. We've all got training to do"

**Elsewhere, later that night**

It was a beautiful sight. The pale moon shining its light onto the petals of the small yellow flower she always kept in her room, the few reminders she kept of her previous life. Tsugime would often gaze at it for hours when she wasn't acting under Zabuza's orders, and during these moments she would allow herself to remember the past. The painful, heart wrenching past.

Growing up for Tsugime had been tough, but not initially. When an infant is born into the Kaguya clan, the elders immediately seize the newborn from the mothers arms the instance the umbilical is cut. The child is put through rigorous harsh examinations to determine if their genes are the rare few that bear the clans legendary kekkai genkai Shikotsumyaku. Those without any trace of the bloodline trait are allowed to return to their parents to be raised as regular members of the Kaguya clan. But if the newborn displayed traces of the bloodline, they were taken away for isolation to be raised as living weapons by the harsh elders. These instances were incredibly rare within the Kaguya clan, occurring once every three or four generations.

When one of these individuals (cursed or blessed depending on your view) are born, they usher in for the Kaguya times of glorious conquest and monumental bloodshed. For every true Kaguya is instinctively at home amidst slaughter, only when they are carving through an enemies flesh do they feel alive. This bloody minded nature is caused by, in some small sense of irony, the genetic abnormality that forms the basis of the kekkai genkai. The same gene that creates the potential for calcium manipulation also creates an enzyme in the brain that causes inhuman levels of rage and anger in those affected.

The Kaguya are a clan long affiliated with Kirigakure. Since the watery villages founding the Kaguya have been the hidden weapon, the blunt instrument used when nothing short of genocide was needed. It was a simple deal between clan and Mizukage; they gave their allegiance as long as he provided them with bodies to carve. Like a good master throwing hunting hounds pieces of meat.

The Kaguya lived, the whole clan, within a network of caves and tunnels carved into a mountain by the bones of their ancestors. Each cave varies in size, each family within the clan having a selection of adjacent caves to fulfil the functions of houses. The largest cave group was reserved for the elders of the Kaguya clan, grizzled veterans with at least five hundred years of battle experience between the eight of them. Within the centre of the complex, was a courtyard of some fashion. The only spot within it all that where the sun shone and grass grew, a small haven within a dark den of murderers and for lack of a better word, psychopaths. And to top it off, the entire complex, the home of the Kaguya clan had existed before Kirigakure and the other great villages were even ideas.

Tsugime was born a twin with her brother Kimmimaro. Like so many before them, their maniac father Katamaro stole them from her mother's arms and placed them before the elder's scrutiny. Tsugime was found to have signs of the bloodline trait, but it was likely to remain dormant for her life. She was released to her mother, but under the stipulations that she be constantly watched by a bodyguard, and submits to regular examinations by the elders.

Kimimaro on the other hand was found to have the Shikotsumyaku within his body. He was the first within four generations, no other infant had displayed the trait for seventy six years. The last member of the clan to have the kekkai genkai was a warrior named Kimimaro, who sat as the chief elder of the clan. His will was strong though his bones had become brittle (which for a bearer of the kekkai genkai made them almost normal), and for these reasons was Tsugime's brother was named after him by her father.

Despite being kept apart by the clan, Tsugime and Kimimaro grew up as all twins did, closer than any other person can describe. But at the same time they were both fundamentally opposite. Raised by the love of her mother, Tsugime became a kind young girl. After a great deal of pleading Tsugime's mother had managed to persuade Katamaro to allow her brother Keiichi to be Tsugime's bodyguard. That way she was constantly watched by somebody who cared for her, not looked to her as a possible commodity.

Kimimaro however grew up shy and introvert, kept in a secure cell deep within the complex from the moment he was able to live without his mother's milk. He was allowed out only when he was being taught by the elder Kimimaro or having his allowed one hour of light. It was during these times that Tsugime watched her brother, cheering him on in her own small ways. After all it was only through the small ways that she could communicate with her brother. Her favourite trick was to give him small flowers she picked whilst walking in the forest with her uncle. Unlike Kimimaro she was allowed some fleeting luxuries.

For a time their lives were peaceful amidst the chaos of clan life. When they were needed by Kirigakure and their bloodlust was slated by butchery, the clan moved forward like most others coexisting peacefully. But in the quiet times between the bloodshed, barbaric traditions were pulled from antiquity, such as the annual tournaments, and the many inter-clan blood-feuds created to alleviate boredom.

But then when she was five, she blood too was revealed to contain the Shikotsumyaku. In the space of a day she was torn from her mother and uncle and placed in a cell next too her already imprisoned brother. And when they tried to protest against her incarceration, Katamaro personally beheaded them for their 'insolence'. Her world shattered, Tsugime retreated within herself like her brother. Remarkably the event did nothing but strengthen their bond as siblings and twins, and both vowed to surpass their cruel, barbaric clan-relatives and become true warriors worthy of the Kaguya name.

Having had several more years practice over Tsugime, Kimimaro advanced faster than his sister in the five taijutsu 'dances' taught to them. He excelled in the controlled and rigid, indoctrinated movements achieving tremendous grace and skill. Tsugime moved into a wholly different direction, seeking advancement through innovation rather than tradition. In secret she began creating her own dances, only sharing her ideas with her brother and nobody else; they swapped information through a hole in the rock separating them, which they carved between them.

The years went on, both children growing up to be trained killing machines in the name of the clan. Then came the Kaguya clan's ill-fated assault on Kirigakure itself. After a particularly long spell of inactivity, the clan saw no other means of sating their urges than through war with their patrons, and war they had. One night of massed carnage that saw everyone of them slaughtered...except for one young survivor.

All Tsugime could remember from that night was Kimimaro telling her to stay put amidst the bloody fighting. With a small bone dagger in her hands, Tsugime had hidden herself behind a large boulder. Come the morning she stumbled blindly into the nearby woodland, searching for her brother to no effect. But she did, by pure chance, stumble into a small clearing where by chance two people were resting for a moment. She remembered the occurrence well.

**Flashback**

_Tsugime pushed herself through the tree's and bushes, cutting a path with the small sharp dagger he created from her femur bone. She had been searching for hours since sun-up, but had so far found nothing of Kimimaro. 'Where are you niisan?' she thought for the thousandth time that morning._

_Then by instinct her small body froze. Ahead of her she could here voices, there was somebody there. Falling back on the training she had endured with the elders, Tsugime winced as she willed the bones in her left forearms to grow. They pushed through her skin and with a sickening sound were pulled out from the fleshy casing. Since the early days of the Kaguya clan's history, the rumour that the clan members were immune to pain itself was always spoken of as if it were fact, to try to further their fearsome reputation. But it is all a lie, since they do feel pain rather acutely._

_And none so more than those born with the Shikotsumyaku. The act of growing a bone from within ones body is an immensely painful experience, so to combat this the users of the kekkai genkai learn to block the pain from their minds altogether through rigorous training. Tsugime was still a novice by the strict standards of the elders, so for her the process was still painful. But she now had several small shurikan sized bone discs at her disposal, complementing her dagger of bone, so she endured the pain for the benefits._

_The sound was growing closer. Slowing her breath, Tsugime retreated into the shade of a tree for greater cover. In the shadows of the night, a trained killers skills were at there peak, and if those coming towards her were enemies they would have no time to react. Feeling the trunk against her back, she waited._

_Eventually the pair emerged, and she watched them walk slowly towards her position. One of them was a tall man wearing the attire of a shinobi. From the way he moved, Tsugime estimated him to be a jounin level close combat expert. He would have to go down first. Then there was his companion, a young girl around the same age as her. She bore a strange look in her eye, as if she were separated from those around her by a great icy distance. Her muscles remained taught, her limbs ready to move in a moments notice for the kill._

_Then, the girl spoke "It would seem we have company Zabuza-san."_

"_Indeed" came the mans reply. His voice chilled Tsugime's blood; it reminded her of her bloodthirsty father._

_Tsugime froze. They had found her already, she had to move. Dashing quickly from the shadows of the tree, she leapt forwards into a quick forward roll. The momentum carried her to within a foot of the man; she needed to kill the jounin first. Whipping her bone dagger around in her hand, she moved from the rolling crouch and jumped up like a cat. Her weapon moved fast, fast enough to cut through the air itself creating a slight whistling sound. Her target's eyes were wide with panic, her Kaguya blood burned for the thrill of the kill as she envisioned the dagger slicing through the arteries of the neck._

_But to her immense surprise, her attack has halted, by the young girl of all people. In a movement so slight Tsugime had barely noticed it out of the corner of her eye, the cold child had caught her arm at the wrist and pulled it into a tight hold. Tsugime now found herself caught in a very vulnerable position. Then she remembered the bone discs she made formed before, and with a flicking motion of her hand she sent them hurtling at her captor. The other girl reacted by releasing the hold and jumping backwards at speed. With a single sweep of her own arm she released her own projectiles, senbon needles of all things. The discs of bone and needles of metal met in mid-air, and with several notable clangs they fell to the floor._

_Tsugime, with no time to react with another attack, attempted to jump away herself. But it was to no avail, as she found her body enveloped by a great orb of water. The man, Zabuza, had trapped her within a Suiro jutsu. A standard capture technique taught to all shinobi of Kirigakure no Sato, he appeared to have used the water from a flask to create the prison._

"_Good work Haku, she was almost too quick for me" the man said to his ward. There was no praise what so ever in the words, despite their seemingly cheery nature they were hollow._

_The girl merely bowed in subservience and replied "Many thanks Zabuza-san. She is of the Kaguya clan is she not; I thought the Kirigakure shinobi had quelled the rebellion already. Why is she out here away from the battle, when she clearly possesses the Shikotsumyaku trait? Wouldn't she be a perfect weapon, like that boy who we passed a couple of hours ago?"_

_Those words made Tsugime's already dwindling breath vanish. 'A boy…brother' she thought frantically, she needed to find Kimimaro. "Where is he? What have you done with him?!" she yelled at her captors._

_Zabuza looked at Tsugime hard, like an expert breeder looking at a prize fighting hound. If he could take this girl under his wing like he had Haku, then he would have one other powerful weapon at his disposal. All he needed to do was tame her, break her so he could rebuild the shattered spirit that would be left. And this brother of hers would be the perfect way of doing it._

_He dispelled the Suiro jutsu and with a quick movement grabbed the girl by the throat. He knew the Kaguya clan; he had fought their number many a time during assassination missions and so forth, so he knew their weaknesses. The neck was one of the few areas where a Kaguya bone master was said to be vulnerable, because of the many vital arteries running to the brain that are located therein. A Kaguya would always be wary of using their vaunted kekkai genkai on their neck bones, since they ran the hazard of piercing a vital area and dying of self inflicted exsanguinations._

_For a moment, their eyes met. Cold indifference met with fiery fury, and Zabuza knew all he needed to do was speak four simple words. "Your brother is dead" he said with unflinching certainty. It was not a complete lie, for all he knew the young boy Haku and he had passed earlier could well be dead like the rest of the Kaguya clan. And if he was alive, well the chance of him finding them was remote, since they would be far from here with their new ally._

_Tsugime's blood ran cold at those words. 'Brother…dead. No that's impossible' she thought, struggling against the surprisingly strong arm holding her tight._

_Zabuza continued with his speech, "He was no doubt killed by the merciless shinobi of Kirigakure, alongside the rest of the Kaguya clan. They are dead, all of them. The attack on the village failed, and every last member of the Kaguya was slaughtered." With those words, he slowly lowered her down and took her chin in his hand softly, raising her limp head to look him directly in the eyes once more._

"_My name is Momochi Zabuza, and yes I am a former shinobi of Kirigakure. Not hours before your clan attacked the village, I and those allied to my cause attempted a coup that sadly failed. I was attempting, like your clansmen, to overthrow a power mad murderer who only cared for his own advancement. The Mizukage of Kirigakure is a foul man who cares not for the people, and I only wished to remove him before he caused any further harm. But tonight with my allies, I am forced to flee. It was by his order that the Kaguya…all of them…were butchered instead of detained…"_

_Tsugime never believed her heart could break again, but the death of the last person she cared about had truly dealt a death blow she had not believed possible. The mans words filtered through her reverie as she gazed at his covered face, and on hearing the last sentence a new emotion boiled to the surface. It eclipsed her grief, it washed away her sorrow. Now, a relentless thirst for vengeance swelled from the deepest recesses of her soul._

_Turning around, Tsugime growled as she slowly moved in the direction she perceived the village to be in. She would find the Mizukage, and before he died she would make sure that he got to enjoy the chewy taste of his own intestines._

"_If you're thinking of killing the Mizukage, then the best option available is to leave with us. You're strong, but right now you would not get within a mile of that pompous bastard and the deaths of your clansmen would all be in vain. The death of your brother would be in vain…" Zabuza said, smiling from behind his bandages as the girl stopped and stood stock still._

"…_Come with me, and I shall train you. Devote your body to my cause, become my weapon, and you shall achieve every goal you set your heart on. Including the vengeance you desire for your families demise. Now tell me child, what is your name?" he finished, offering his hand out to the girl._

_Tsugime paused for a long time, thinking on what she had been offered. Her mother had always told her that angels watched over her, influencing fate to keep her shielded from harm. And though she had lost so much, perhaps in one moment of karmic goodness she had received something in return for her punishment. She had lost Kimimaro, but by apparent chance met a man whose guidance could steer her down her newly born path of vengeance. And in that instant, Kaguya Tsugime committed herself utterly to the cause of this benevolent stranger. Crossing the gap between them, she knelt in fealty and looked the man square in the eyes._

"_I am Kaguya Tsugime of the Kaguya clan. I am your weapon, Zabuza-sama"_

**End Flashback**

Since that point her life had been devoted utterly to Zabuza's cause. Her faith in the man grew from strength to strength, especially when she talked to Haku-san and learnt more about him. To most he was a violent psychopath, but to the pair of them he was a father figure who took them under his wing. Of course he was harsh and the lessons he taught were hard, but it helped the pair of them grow into strong people.

Both had become masters of their kekkai genkai, Haku with her Hyoton and Tsugime with her Shikotsumyaku. Since she had already been taught the five dances by the elders of the Kaguya, all Tsugime had to do was learn them to perfection. With the new drive she gained as Zabuza's disciple this did not take very long, and before a year had past she had mastered the Tsubaki no Mai, the Yanagi no Mai, the Karamatsu no Mai, the Sawarabi no Mai and both the Hana and Tsuru forms of the Tessenka no Mai. At that point she was at the same level her of her deceased brother, and as she performed each elegant attack and feint she remembered his face and her resolve doubled.

She also continued with her experimentation in creating her own unique taijutsu dances. Driven by a relentless desire to see her clan reborn, Tsugime began creating new dances of death, so that when the Kaguya rise from the ashes of their suicide they would be stronger. Her current repertoire has risen from five to thirteen, each based upon a particular flora like the originals.

Yes, as she looked up at the moon, Tsugime could not help but remember the pains of the past. She tried to forget, but so many times of late she had found herself collapsing onto her bed and weeping for hours. No matter how many times she attempted to bury her emotions and become as cold as Haku's ice, she would always find herself returning to that place years ago.

"Why am I so weak?" she asked herself as she caressed the lone flower at her bedside. Then there was a knock, and the white haired teenager was pulled away from her nostalgic thoughts.

"Tsugime-chan, it's me. Can I come in?" It was Haku; maybe she was coming to update her on their sensei's condition. It hurt them both to see the man they idolized in such a poor condition, but Haku was an excellent herb misstress, so Tsugime knew the swordsmen would be up on his feet soon.

"Hai, enter Haku-san" Tsugime replied absentmindedly, returning her gaze to the moonlight. Haku entered, still in her shinobi attire, and walked over to her friend's bed. Sitting down, she breathed a small sigh as she loosened the string tying her hair up, and felt the long locks cascade down her back.

"Still remembering that day?" Haku stated, it wasn't a question, she knew Tsugime to well for that.

"No matter how many times I go over it in my head, telling myself to move on, I cannot. It's like some feeling, deep within my very soul, won't let me forget Kimimaro. Its as if he were still alive, reaching out for me" the white haired girl replied, knowing it was better to tell the truth. Her friend always knew exactly what to say to make her feel better, at least for a time.

Haku hummed, and then thought of something. Slapping her fist into her hand, she said with a smile "I know what'll take your mind off things. You can join me in picking my herbs later"

Tsugime looked at her grinning friend and formed a small smile of her own. Picking herbs was a very therapeutic exercise, one she had done before and it had helped then. "Why not? But there is one thing I wanted to do before hand" she said, placing her hand thoughtfully to her chin.

"What's that?" Haku asked, a little curious at what her normally reclusive comrade wanted to do.

"Go see how the Demon Brothers are progressing. I haven't seen then since I was sent to collect them before, and from what I have heard they have really thrown themselves into their training"

Haku nodded, she too had been wanting to pay a visit on the twins. "Sure…I'll just head over to my room to get changed into something more comfortable. Then I'll come back, and we'll go watch the Demon Brothers for a while. Sound good?"

"Yeah, definitely" came the reply. Tsugime turned her gaze back to the moon, and listened to the sound of her door closing. It would be a couple of hours till dawn, enough time to enjoy the peace and serenity of nature in the eye of such a fierce hurricane. Not very long from now, days at most, she would face the leaf shinobi at Zabuza-sama's side. Moreover, she would be facing that blonde boy, the effigy of her long dead uncle.

'If I am to truly let go of my past, if I am to truly move on and become stronger, that leaf shinobi must die. Be it by the vengeful claws of the Demon Brothers or the righteous bones of my living body, he shall die" she thought grimly, before losing herself to the moon and the sounds of the night.

**Elsewhere**

Naruto stood at the edge of the great watery expanse, listening to the surging sounds of the tide as it continued a cycle that had been going on for hundred's of thousands of years. But tonight there was more than the mere sound of clapping waves; tonight the air was filled with the sound of a thousand breaths.

Determined to fully master the Fuusaishuu jutsu, the jutsu that would give him command of the air itself, Naruto had summoned a vast horde of one thousand Kage Bunshin. Including himself, that made a thousand and one entities performing the same task at once, giving him the full sum of a thousand and one entities experience. With that much experience flowing into his cranium, he had no doubt he would probably be comatose until the middle of the afternoon, but to master the Fuusaishuu it was a risk he was willing to take.

'Square, sphere, pyramid, wall, whip, cone, blade, crescent moon, spiral…' Naruto continued to whisper a mantra inside his head, as he pushed all of his considerable concentration to its maximum manipulating the chakra laden air before him. The form manipulation followed a simple course; all he and the clones had to do was mould the air into a wide variety of shapes as many times as possible. The training strictly stipulated the particular shapes necessary, stating that if a shinobi could perform a total of fifty 'sets' then they would have fully mastered the jutsu. Then it was a simple matter of using each shape in battle to the shinobi's advantage, which Naruto had to admit, was a thrilling prospect.

Currently he and his legion of clones were on their nineteenth 'set'. The highest number of 'sets' Naruto had done previously was twenty four, and that was with several hundred clones working as well. Not even half way through the number laid down by the jutsu's creator, whom Naruto had dubbed the 'Youso Shisou'.

After learning of the 'Densetsu no Kyunin', the nine masters who had quite literally created the world of shinobi as he knew it, Naruto had been filled with a deep heartfelt sense of reverence for the jutsu he was learning. It was such a simple idea; put performed with such an immense sense of elegance that only came from the greatest of techniques. And what's more, there was a jutsu like this one for every element. He wished he could have somehow met the man, perhaps his spirit in the realm of Shinzui Hashi, but knowing his sacrifice to seal away the Kagetentei quickly ruled out that notion.

Looking out at his army, Naruto couldn't help but grin. All of them very resolute, standing atop the waters surface pushing themselves further than most would believe humanly possible. And what's more, they did it with the knowledge that all of them were merely a means to an end, they were clones created for the benefit of him the original. That was something that had always nagged his mind on a philosophical level, but since the clones were aware of their existence he didn't tend to give it any great deal of thought. There were after all, easier ways of getting migraines.

'Okay…' Naruto thought, a small bead of sweat running down his head to drop from his chin '…that's the nineteenth set, onto the twentieth. This is going pretty well, no hiccups so far. Only time will tell, but I swore to myself that I would change Inari. I'm gonna prove to that kid that heroes still exist. I don't care how many times Zabuza rears his eyebrow less head, or how many shinobi he brings with him. With this jutsu, and all of the training I can cram into my body I will stop him, time and time again.'

And with those thoughts, he returned back to the task at hand and prepared to push his body to the limits.

**Back at Zabuza's**

Gozu stared at his opponent, his breathing laboured by the non-stop physical exertion he was going through. Since he and Meizu had returned, they had been putting their bodies through an extreme training regime. The only times they ever broke were at noon exactly, to eat and generally relieve their worn out bodies. It was hard, but they had sworn upon their very souls that they would eradicate that blonde vermin from existence. So they had secreted themselves away in a separate clearing not far from the compound, where the trees became so thick that no one could spy on what they were doing.

They had taken a long and hard look at their technique's and general fighting style, and had realised several flaws. Whilst they were at their most effective working in tandem, pretty much every technique they knew was designed as a quick assassination technique. Once a battle became protracted, or their initial surprise assault was stopped or circumvented in any way, they began to lose their efficiency very rapidly. The brief fight with the Konoha group had proved that, at the cost of their beloved older brother.

Whilst he had not been related to them biologically, Kyouran had been a guiding light for the twins ever since they had first met him in the cold all those years ago. He understood their fractured minds and gave their lives focus, a focus which had been quite literally cut in half by a certain individual.

Now they were training to overcome that weakness, by broadening the overall range of attacks they could make in a combat situation both as a team and on their own. The fact that they were pushing themselves so hard was also having a knock on effect of pushing their stamina through the roof, allowing for greater bursts of ferocity. They had quickly mastered using their brother's swords alongside their already lethal gauntlets. The gloves themselves had been altered slightly too each house a separate chain, since before it had only been Gozu's gauntlet that had housed the chain used in their assassination technique.

Where as before they had moved in synchronisation, Gozu's chain connecting with a special lock in Meizu's gauntlet to create the encircling effect for the Kyokudo Hakkingu Kusari assassination jutsu, now they both had their own chain ten feet in length tipped with a lethal dagger capable of cutting stone. Now they had gained a new form dealing death, with the chain able to launch out of the gauntlet for a sudden spearing attack before doubling as a lightning fast whip. The genius of the daggers lay in the way the brothers had forged them, Gozu's was the generic kunai shape whilst Miezu's dagger was a special pronged shape. During battle, the two daggers could connect in the blink of an eye, which meant they did not lose the tried and tested techniques they had used up until now.

Looking over at his younger twin, Gozu felt a sense of pride well up in his psychotic heart. His little brother was pushing himself equally hard, since he had taken the death of Kyouran hardest. He had been the first of the brothers to fall, he had been weak when he should have been strong enough to avenge the mans death. But that did not matter, they would train until Zabuza-sama was well again, and then they would join him for the grand assault.

**Not far away**

Tsugime and Haku watched with great interest as the two young men began to spar once again. They had been watching for just under an hour, and they both had to admit that with the current pace they were setting, both Gozu and Meizu would be almost twice as strong as they had been previously. Their maddening genius lay in the complex strategy that they were creating, using a combination of their original tag team chain attacks, some simple suiton jutsu and their new chain techniques.

What intrigued the Kaguya the most was the nature of how the new techniques worked. Each brother had both their remade gauntlets with the whip-like chain, and the swords they had scavenged from Kyouran's corpse. The way they attacked, seemed to resemble a dance that held an amazing elegance alongside a savage ferocity for which the pair were best known. Though it was rough at the moment, give the two of them another two or three days and each move would flow effortlessly into the other.

A diagonal slash would flow into a roundhouse kick, before the brother twisted in mid-air to bring the gauntlet or whip to bear. The gauntlet would aim for the head or shoulder; its purpose would be to pulp the bone and muscle into paste with a crippling force. The whip was designed not to crush, but to slice clean through the flesh with surgical precision. Hit at the right spot, and the enemies life would be over in a second as their upper torso was separated from the rest of their body. And whilst one brother attacked the front, the other encircled around the back in the same flowing rhythm. When completed, it would be an almost inescapable orgy of death, from which only the most skilled opponent could escape.

"Impressive aren't they?" Haku said out loud, dressed as she was in her favourite pink kimono. Tsugime had donned a similar garb, except her kimono was pure white to match her bone coloured hair, and they both had baskets for collecting herbs.

"Indeed. The death of a close one provides powerful motivation" Tsugime mused quietly.

"I thought you were joining me to gain a little Zen and tranquillity" Haku teased, stifling a giggle with her sleeve.

"True, I apologise for being morose. It's just I never imagined that Kyouran's death would affect them like this. He wasn't exactly the kindest of siblings for them to look up to" Tsugime answered.

"He understood them, and that was all they needed from him. I have heard from Zabuza-san of how they met, and from what I can gather their broken minds needed guidance, security. Kyouran gave them that, and so an iron bond was forged. Its funny, how just being there and connecting on the smallest of levels can change a person. Wouldn't you agree?" Haku said, her own memories causing a small amount of sadness to creep into her words.

"Yes…just the smallest of connections…" Tsugime answered, her mind returning to the blonde haired leaf genin. "…Shall we go and pick these herbs of your Haku. I think I am need of undergoing a little manual labour before the sun rises fully"

"Of course Tsugime-chan. I think I saw a large patch of Lily Root in a clearing on the opposite side of the lake. It's far enough from the town to avoid any possible…meetings, so we should be fine" Haku replied, and with those words the pair left the grunting Demon Brothers to their training. As they grew further away in distance from the scene of training, the groaning sound of a falling tree filled the early morning air.

**Dawn on the Fifth Day**

Naruto was unconscious. He knew that because when he was unconscious he often found that his dreams were more vivid than usual. This particular dream was an old one, one he had dreamed about since he had first uttered his most uttered phrase. He was Hokage, and the village people finally respected him and treated him like a real person. This one was a little different; he was older in this one…maybe seventeen or eighteen years old. He was wearing the white trench coat he had seen his father wear in Shinzui Hashi; he was the spitting image of the Yondaime.

He was leading what appeared to be a great army of shinobi, and he was surrounded by faces that he did not recognise. A stoic faced shinobi with a great gourd on his back, a lanky blue haired shinobi with heavy scarring around his eyes. A young boy marked by weird tattoos, a warrior with a massive cleaver bound in linen. These were but some of the many bodies all around his fierce form…damn he looked good. Warriors fighting with elegant katana, shinobi bearing hitai-ate from numerous rival villages. Suna-nin, Kumo-nin, Kusa-nin, Kiri-nin, you name it and they were there.

They were all lined up on one side of an enormous plain, facing a massive opposing army. I was a war, a war that seemed to eclipse all of the wars that had come before it. His enemies were many, numbering almost three times his own side's number, a vast black horde hidden by shadows that moved with a life of their own. His focus was placed on the enemy command, and he saw his older face form a rictus of hate and anger. One of them wore a bizarre mask, whilst a group of six fearsome shinobi stood behind him. They all wore black coats with red clouds visible on the fabric, and all of the six shinobi shared the same chilling eyes.

'What is all of this…?' Naruto wondered, as his invisible body gazed all around him. Then, without warning, the two sides began to surge down either side of the plain. Both moved at a phenomenal speed, and an incredible rumbling filled the air as hundreds of thousands of feet smacked against the ground. With a great crashing sound they slammed into one another, and almost immediately jutsu of amazing power and variety shot back and forth as shinobi fought shinobi. Then, the spectacular vision was bathed in a white light, and a roaring unlike any he had heard filled Naruto's skull with its din.

With a cry he shot up, suddenly awake and alert. A kunai in his hand, he looked left and right, his vision blurred by the morning light. As his eyes adjusted, he noticed two figures staring down at him, it was two girls. One with long black hair in a pink kimono, whilst the other was dressed in white with equally white hair. She gave off the strangest aura, with those two strange red dots above her piercing green eyes.

'Now I remember…' Naruto thought excitedly, ignoring the pair for a moment. 'I had finally reached the fiftieth set of form Fuusaishuu manipulation, and me and the clones did that huge victory dance on the lake water. Then I dispelled them all…and I fell unconscious from the memory backlash. But what was that weird dream? I'll tell oyaji all about it when I tell him the awesome news. I finally completed the training in the Fuusaishuu at long last.'

His celebratory thoughts were interrupted when the black haired girl tapped him on the shoulder. "Are you alright. You shouldn't sleep out here; you'll catch a death of cold" she said calmly. Her voice was quiet, but self assured, like the slow snowfall on a winters day.

Naruto's eyes narrowed at the voice, 'I know that voice…wait a second. Is the fake hunter-nin who took down Zabuza the other day! What the hell if she doing here? And who's the girl giving me the silent treatment, if she one of Zabuza's too? Okay Naruto, think things through. They found you unconscious and completely vulnerable to attack, so why am I not dead already?' he thought frantically. If they decided to attack him, would he be able to fend them off? How weak was he from completing the Fuusaishuu training?

As Naruto concentrated on his own internal dilemma, Tsugime began to tap her friends back in Morse code 'Haku, he's weak. We should strike now whilst we have the advantage.'

Haku frowned slightly, before reaching behind and replied, tapping on the girls foot 'No Tsugime, remember no such order was given. The commotion might attract the jounin, just be patient. Besides, he doesn't know who we are, so we are safe for the moment.'

Trying to seem as nonchalant as possible, Naruto got up and stretched his body. It was a natural reaction for anyone who had just woken up, it shouldn't arouse suspicion. Inside his head however, his mind continued its ponderings over just how to react to his current situation. 'I don't know how good they are, so fighting is a last resort or self defence case. So what else is there…intelligence? They probably believe that I do not know their identities, so I can use that to my advantage. Okay, I'll just play along for now and report to sensei later' he thought.

As a shinobi, Naruto was well versed in the fine art of deception. Acting and pretending to be somebody else successfully was an important part of almost every high ranking mission, be it a bodyguard mission where you needed to hide your true strength, or an infiltration mission where you were pretending to be an enemy. The latter example rang almost too true for Naruto, and with a practiced ease he adopted his trademark foxy grin.

"Hehe, sorry about that. I must have worked myself too hard last night and fallen asleep, my bad" he said, rubbing the back of his neck with his left hand. 'Please buy it please buy it please buy it' he mentally pleaded.

"Hm, that makes sense I suppose. Judging from the headband you're wearing you must be a shinobi" Haku answered. Whilst her face remained impassive, her mind too was thinking the scenario through. 'This one is very skilled, more so than the other genin among the Konoha-nin. He could be trying to learn more about our strengths by playing dumb. It makes sense, so I'll simply have to do the same. Instead of a battle of ninjutsu, this morning shall be a battle of minds.'

Keeping up appearances Naruto answered "You guessed it! I spent the whole night training cos I'm super strong." To add emphasis he struck a cliché double bicep pose. Both of the girls were surprised to see the sleeve tighten slightly, apparently the boy did possess some small degree of muscle on his young frame. Not as much as Zabuza, but still something to be proud of.

"I see, very impressive" Haku answered, trying to sound slightly sarcastic in a friendly way.

Dropping the bicep pose, Naruto turned to look at the baskets by the side of the dark haired girl. "So…you guys picking herbs or something. I know there's a load over the other side of the clearing, but it's a little early to be workin doncha think."

Haku looked down at her basket, which was only partly full of the herbs she and Tsugime had been picking. "Um…yes, my friend and I were picking Lily White. It's an herb used when making healing salves…we…sell it at the market in town" she answered quickly. 'Please buy it please buy it please buy it' she thought calmly (a girl like Haku never panicked).

Naruto hummed, and was about to ask another question when the white haired girl finally spoke. "If you're not doing anything, perhaps you might like to join us. It is quiet a therapeutic exercise."

Her voice held a very feminine monotone, but not so much that she sounded idiotic. Naruto wasn't exactly the greatest expert when it came to analysis, but he was learning quickly. 'A voice like that denotes great emotional control, almost to the point where they are completely suppressed. If she is a shinobi like I suspect she is, I would wager that she has an almost unbreakable focus in combat' he surmised, before agreeing to the offer.

One hour later, and both baskets were full to overflowing with different kinds of herbs. Naruto had taken the liberty of pointing out several offer medicinal plants located along the edge of the lake. When asked how he knew about them, he cited that he had read a gardening book back home at his village. Well to be true it was a scroll teaching the art of herbology, but they didn't need to know that. They bantered with small talk such as where they came from, the weather and so on.

"I must say to train all night like you say you have must require a great deal of dedication. Why are you pushing yourself so hard, aren't you strong enough already?" enquired Tsugime, her green eyes staring hard at Naruto. So far she had perceived little from his cryptic responses, so a direct approach was needed.

'Hmm, how to answer that one…' Naruto thought '…I know. I'll be subtly honest, that'll catch them off guard.'

"I need to become stronger to fulfil my dream. Ever since I was a child, it has been my desire to become Hokage of Konohagakure no Sato, so everyone who ever looked down upon me will respect me instead. That, and I am trying to prove to this kid I know that heroes still exist in this world" he exclaimed with fervour, trying to sound as childishly enthusiastic as possible.

"So you're becoming stronger for someone else. Or are you doing it just for yourself?" asked Haku, intrigued by such a grand dream as becoming a Kage. For some reason, she felt a connection to the boy. Though originally any question she asked him had been designed to test him, to see how much he could possibly reveal to them, Haku had found herself quickly losing interest in intelligence gathering. She just wanted to learn more about this enigmatic child, who could stand up to opponents most would consider above him on many levels. Even though they were enemies, she felt she could relate to him in some small way.

"Well, when you put it that way…I guess I am becoming stronger for those around me. I'm on a mission which has gotten a lot harder, and I need to protect my friends. I mean, if you can't protect the people most important to you then what is there left in life. If I train with that goal in mind, then I believe I will become a truly strong shinobi" Naruto answered, deciding to up the ante a little with his answers.

Both Haku and Tsugime's eyes widened a fraction. For these two teenage girls, those words pretty much summed up their entire existence. They had both trained for most of their lives to protect those they had deemed precious, that was how they defined their strength. Looking up at the sun, Haku realised that both she and her friend were due back at the compound.

Getting up from her kneeling position, Haku bowed slightly at Naruto. "Thank you for helping us collect these herbs, we couldn't have done it so fast without your help…" she said before nodding to Tsugime and turning to walk away. Pausing for a moment, she decided to add on last thing to her thank you "…with an attitude like yours, you will become strong. Very quickly. We will probably meet again sometime in the future…until then, farewell."

Seeing they were leaving, Naruto decided to end with some last words that would scare them senseless. "When we do meet again, please honour me by not holding back. Tell Zabuza that the shinobi of Konohagakure no Sato will be ready for him, and that he had better not take us lightly" he said with a feral grin on his face.

The words hit Haku and Tsugime like a freight train, and in an instant they had whirled around to face any possible attack that may follow such a statement, except the clearing was empty. Naruto had quickly disappeared into the water nearby, and was waiting on the surface holding his breath. 'He knew all this time! Damn this kid, just how smart is he?' Haku thought, a small measure of what could be fear passing through her body like a sudden chill. Seeing as he was nowhere to be seen, she dropped the senbon needle in her hand and picked up her basket.

"We should go tell Zabuza immediately" warned Tsugime, who was willing the spikes of bone in her arm to retract.

Haku nodded, and the pair quickly began walking back in the direction of the compound. They got all of twenty yards when they crossed paths with a certain Hyuga heiress, who happened to be looking for a certain blonde. Looking the pair up and down, Hinata was courteous enough to wish them good morning, to which they replied in kind before quickening the pace.

As she entered the clearing Hinata quickly activated her Byakugan with a speedy hand sign, the veins around her eyes becoming more prominent as the doujutsu was roused. The use of the hand sign was meant as a focus for novice Byakugan users who were yet to master seamless activation. Hinata had to admit that her new training regime was helping her tremendously, and it was all thanks to her special friend. With Naruto's help, she was truly beginning to think of herself as less of a failure and more of a traveller down a long path. She was merely at the beginning of her journey, and how long she took to reach her destination was no fault of hers, she wasn't weak because of it.

Case in point, her skill with her clan's mythic doujutsu. Using her current learning curve as a basic divining point, Hinata believed that she would soon be able to activate her Byakugan without the seal within a week or two. It was all a question of practice and chakra control, both of which she was receiving in spades under Naruto's tutelage. She had mastered Tree Climbing after the first day, reaching the tops of several different trees that Naruto had set for her to conquer. After that, she had begun to alternate between Chakra Burning and Water Walking. Water Walking occurred in the morning and Chakra burning in the afternoon and evening, at a time when she was happy with everything else she had performed and could rest off the exhaustion caused by the exercise.

Widening her search range, Hinata smiled and breathed a sigh of relief as she saw her crush's body rise out of the water of the lake. Deactivating the Byakugan, Hinata stood and watched as Naruto walked onto dry land and comically shook himself dry like a dog. "Man that waters cold" he muttered, before noticing his new training buddy standing looking at him with a slightly bemused/nervous look on her face.

"Hey there Hinata, ya didn't have to come out here looking for me. I was just training last night, nothing major…oh. Hope I didn't worry everyone" he said earnestly, trying to cheer the girl up as best he could.

Remembering herself, Hinata blushed slightly. "S…sorry Naruto-kun, no one was really worried. It's just that…well…its breakfast time, and Tsunami-san wanted you to eat a meal before you start training again."

Deadpanning Naruto couldn't help but sigh. 'No one was worried…that's a little harsh…' he thought with an imperceptible sliver of annoyance. '…Well, it'd probably do me some good having a nice breakfast. I can relay everything to sensei and eat at the same time.' And with that thought, he began walking back with Hinata. Unable to help himself, he orated his Fuusaishuu training proudly, proclaiming with the excitement of a child how he had finally achieved a goal he had been working on for some time.

**Later at Tazuna's**

The Konoha pair was quick in their return to Tazuna's residence, via the lake at Naruto's suggestion to provide some early training for Hinata. Upon returning they both found themselves digging into a hearty breakfast of rice and cooked fish. Naruto looked at his friend 'She did pretty well on the lake, only lost her footing four times and then was quick to rectify any mistakes. Another day or so of practice and she should have water walking down to a tea' he thought between mouthfuls. All of the genin were present, but Kurenai and Kakashi had asked to have their food taken up stairs so Kakashi wouldn't have to move too much.

"Naruto, where did you go last night? Training I presume?" enquired Sasuke.

"Yeah, went pretty well too. Why dya ask Sasuke, looking for pointers?" Naruto replied, smiling as he teased the Uchiha.

The raven haired boy scowled and replied "Of course not, my training is going fine without your help. I was simply asking a question…" before finishing his breakfast and leaving the table. "…Its Naruto and Hinata's turn to guard the bridge this morning, then me and Kiba in the afternoon. I'm going to go train" stated the Uchiha survivor before leaving the room.

Leaning back in his chair, Naruto opened his mouth and poured the rest of his meal into his waiting oesophagus. His bowl landed on the table with a dull thud, and with a small bow he thanked Tsunami for the delicious food. The woman smiled and replied that it was a pleasure. "I'm just going to go talk to my sensei, and then me an Hinata'll escort you to the bridge, okay Tazuna-san" he said looking at the older man questioningly.

"Yeah sure, just don't be too long okay kid. I'm already late as it is, and with everyone leaving the site I cannot afford to waste anymore time" came the reply. Naruto nodded and ascended the stairs to where he knew his sensei was recuperating. He knocked on the door with a rap of his knuckles and waited to be allowed inside.

"Enter…" came Kurenai's voice, and with a quick jerk of the door handle he was inside. "…Ah Naruto good morning. Glad to see you eventually returned from your impromptu exit last night…was your training productive?"

Naruto sweat-dropped a little, he had left on a whim after all. "Well I trained all of last night with as many Kage Bunshin as I could, and finally mastered this technique I've been trying to learn for a while. Then I fell unconscious, and…well, here I am!" he exclaimed, throwing his arms out as if he were expecting some fan fare or something.

"Well that's good to know…" came a more masculine voice. With a minor amount of effort, Kakashi pushed himself into a seating position. He was slowly regaining the strength to move without the crutches, but his muscles continued to pulse with a dull aching feeling. "…but I suspect there is more to this little update. There is always more where you are concerned, ne Naruto" the jounin joked, chuckling slightly at the boy's reaction.

Naruto sighed and adopted a more serious face. "Not hours ago, I encountered two individuals who I believe are subordinates of Momochi Zabuza"

The two jounins looked at each other with shock, "Did they attack you? Were you able to subdue them?" Kurenai quickly asked, trying to retain her composure as best she could.

"Neither really. They must have arrived when I was unconscious, and I was wearing my hitai-ate so they would have recognised who I was immediately. But instead of killing me when I was vulnerable, one of them woke me up and scolded me for sleeping outside. It didn't take me long to figure out who they were, since I matched the girl who woke me's voice to that of the fake hunter-nin that rescued Zabuza from the battle days ago. Knowing they could have killed me, I decided to play dumb and try to gather some intelligence concerning Zabuza" Naruto continued with his dead pan oration.

"How did you do that…genjutsu perhaps?" Kakashi mused. He knew the boy would tell him anyway, he just liked to guess how things go; it was more fun that way, so he listened carefully to Naruto's description of the pair.

"…All I did was ask them questions. They were gathering herbs primarily used for healing salves, which I can guess are intended to be used to speed Zabuza's recovery. They were smart though, and I was unable to really gain much from dissecting their words. I did however glean some interesting insights by analysing their residual chakra and how they interacted with their surroundings…"

"And, what did you learn Naruto" Kurenai asked, her mind reeling with the possibility of new enemies. 'So we can add an excellent grasp of espionage to Naruto's list of attributes' she thought with a wry smile. The boy was already turning out to be such a fascinating child to watch, and he was only starting his shinobi career.

"…Through careful examination of their residual chakra, the small traces of chakra that naturally seep into the air from the kirakukie, I believe that both of the shinobi that I encountered this morning have kekkai genkai abilities…"

"How can you tell from such a minute level of chakra?" Kakashi asked, a little in awe at the boys words. Well he was shocked to begin with, but Naruto seemed to throw curveballs on a near daily basis.

"…I don't quite know how to describe it. I was only really able to make this deduction minutes ago at the breakfast table. As I ate, I applied my chakra senses to look at Sasuke and Hinata, which helped cement my suspicions. You see, the chakra of a shinobi carrying a kekkai genkai within their genetic code…it 'feels' different. It has this sort of, ethereal vibrating quality as it moves around the body. I don't know what exact abilities these bloodline traits give them, only that they have them…"

"…And that was with just their chakra. Their bodies told me a lot about them as well. The dark haired one was definitely the hunter-nin impostor; since her fingers bore slight calluses from a high degree of practice with what I can only surmise would be her senbon needles. Her muscles were not prominent but wiry, so she must possess a great degree of agility. The white haired one with the weird red dots…"

"Wait a moment; you didn't mention any red dots before. Were they just above her eyebrows?" Kakashi quickly asked, interrupting the boy's speech.

"…Uh yeah…" Naruto replied "…just above her eyebrows. Like I was about to say, she had the look of a taijutsu specialist about her, the way her limbs would tense and un-tense every minute or so as if she were anticipating an attack. Anyways, that's pretty much all I could really gather on them. I couldn't find any subliminal clue's on the whereabouts of their base of operations, or how many more of them there are. But I believe that those two will most likely be present alongside Zabuza during his next attack, since they seem to be at such high levels."

Kurenai nodded, quietly digesting every word. She turned to look at her associate, but all she saw was deep look of thought. "Kakashi, what is it?" she asked, knowing that when the normally lazy man adopted such an expression he was thinking about something important.

"Kaguya…" was the only word to leave the mans mask covered lips. Kurenai recognised the word vaguely; she had heard that clan had been massacred. Kakashi then looked at Naruto and smiled "…thank you for the information Naruto. You did well considering the circumstances you were placed under, and reacted like a true shinobi. As you sensei, I am proud of your accomplishment. Now, I think you have delayed Tazuna-san for long enough with your report. You and Hinata have morning guard duty, and I expect you both to look sharp."

Naruto nodded, before pivoting on the ball of his foot and exiting the way he entered. Kakashi coughed slightly before turning his attention back to his fellow jounin. "This changes things a little, to think, two shinobi with kekkai genkai under his command. I would have never have thought a renegade like Zabuza could be so lucky, but then again he is a cunning bastard."

"That may be true, but we too have two shinobi with kekkai genkai abilities, Hinata and Sasuke. Not to mention the hijutsu skills of Kiba and Shino, as well as Sakura and least of all Naruto. He may have well trained allies, but so do we Kakashi" Kurenai said with some element of pride in her voice.

"Yes, but they all still have far to go, even Naruto. Hinata seems to be coming along with her Byakugan with Naruto's surprisingly potent help, and the others are advancing quickly with the Tree Climbing. Sakura has mastered the exercise flawlessly, and Shino isn't far behind. Kiba will take another day or two since he gets distracted or angered, and Sasuke. Well from what I have seen, Sasuke seems to be pushing himself in a completely different direction entirely" the jounin mused, staring into middle distance with the sounds of the sea echoing through the open window.

"Meaning?" Kurenai enquired. She had been looking into the genin's private training sessions more so than the overall group exercises.

"He seem's to be putting himself through the exercise we set for Naruto, where one learns to divide the flow of their chakra and push it in opposite directions…" Kakashi replied with a sigh "…it would seem he is reacting to Naruto's sudden surge in skill by pushing himself harder than he perhaps should. Maybe…maybe I should take him aside, give him some personal tuition myself away from the others. If possible, it would help us greatly if I could help him activate his sharingan, since he is yet to accomplish that himself. Plus it would help soothe his ego slightly."

"Indeed" Kurenai muttered, her mind filled with all of the new problems the morning had brought. 'I had better damned get extra pay for this mission, if we survive it' she thought grimly, before entering into more discussion with her comrade.

**Later**

Naruto sat in a state of total calm and relaxation, his mind zoning out the noisy sounds of construction work going on around him. He and Hinata had been on guard duty for three hours, during which they took turns scouting the immediate area for signs of movement. Naruto swept as far as his developing chakra sense would allow, Hinata used her Byakugan. It was good progress for the both of them, since limits cannot be overcome unless pushed. It was currently Hinata's turn to play lookout, so Naruto had decided to take the opportunity to enter Shinzui Hashi and talk with his father. Calming his mind, Naruto sat in his meditative state and quickly felt the tell tale pulling sensation. In an instant, he was there amongst the spirits of the dead.

**Shinzui Hashi**

Naruto opened his eyes to see the bridge, coloured in the morose greys and blacks that was unique to this spectral dimension. An eerie fog hung over the immediate area, stopping Naruto from seeing anything further than ten feet from himself. With none of the workers were there, without the noise of the construction, the whole place had a very creepy feel to it. "Hey old man! Get your ass out here; I've got some news for ya!" Naruto cried out into the gloom, waiting patiently for the response.

He didn't have to wait long, as out of the fog stepped the immediately recognisable features of the former Hokage with a small smile on his face. "Y'know just because I'm a spirit, doesn't mean I don't have a social life" the man said with a mock whine.

"Oh, you know you always have time for me oyaji…" Naruto joked with a grin "…besides, I got pretty big news. I finally mastered the Fuusaishuu training; I can now the use the jutsu to its full extent."

'He mastered it so soon! Damn, that seal must be something else. Either that or I've got super sperm, because this son of mine is something else' Minato thought with a small double take. "That's great Naruto…I suppose you know what this means."

Naruto's grin widened "Yep, like you said the last time. If I can master the Fuusaishuu jutsu, then the training within this place can begin. I already met Hizashi-san yesterday and underwent my first lesson in the Kyuuten Kaihousho style. Well, it was more like him giving me the basics of the style and its child style Jyuken. I haven't had the chance to really practice yet, since I've been finishing with the Fuusaishuu and training Hinata."

"The Hyuga girl…you're training her" Minato said, his eyebrow rose in question.

"Yeah, she's really good too. It all started when she sorta stumbled on me whilst I was meditating, and she somehow was able to see into Shinzui Hashi with her Byakugan…"Naruto said, orating the tale in full to his eager father. By the end the man looked slightly puzzled, but nothing beyond that showed on his face.

"It must have something to do with the Byakugan's ability to see the flow of chakra in the body; the girl must have a very potent spiritual force. And you say you told her…everything?" he asked, quietly assuming a thoughtful posture that Naruto had come to associate with him.

"Pretty much. The way I see it, after what she saw it would have been rude to not give an explanation. She seemed trustworthy enough, and once I started…the words seemed to just blurt out without any control" Naruto replied sheepishly.

Minato smiled warmly and clapped his son on the shoulders. "Of course they would have, a kid your age keeping so many secrets bottled up. And quite frankly you couldn't have picked a better person. I knew her mother, the kindest soul you can ever imagine, so take it from me Hinata is a keeper."

Naruto nodded, before remembering something else he wanted to ask about. "Um, dad, there was something else I wanted to tell you. The other day I met this strange old guy who mistook me for someone else. He called me Kenpachi; does the name ring any bells with you?"

Minato closed his eyes and massaged the bridge of his nose with one hand. "Your mother had a brother called Kenpachi, but she told me he died a long time ago fending off shinobi from Kirigakure. Other than him I knew nobody else by that name"

Naruto's eyes widened at the new revelation. 'My mom's…brother. Oh I have got to find that old man now' he thought, a sudden desperate urge overcoming his rational mind. He moved to release the links binding him to the ethereal dimension when he heard a new voice from the fog.

"Are you forgetting Naruto-san? You still have today's training with me, and since you are here it seems there is no time like the present to begin." Naruto's hands dropped to his sides as he watched Hyuga Hizashi emerge from the haze into his field of vision. Naruto winced a little and then scolded himself; he had forgotten his promise to Hizashi about their training sessions.

"Gomen Hizashi-sensei, I guess I got a little caught up in everything else. I can still train right now if you still wish to teach me, I can make the time" Naruto said humbly, bowing slightly to the former Branch clan member.

'Still so humble my young friend' Hizashi thought with a smile before turning his white gaze upon Minato. "If you might be so kind as to leave us Minato-san, the words I impart upon Naruto are for he and he alone. I am sure you understand."

The Namikaze clan member shrugged and replied nonchalantly. "Yeah I get where you're coming from Hizashi. See you next time son, you're doing great!" He moved over to give Naruto a quick hug, before turning around and walking into the fog.

Naruto watched his father depart from his field of vision, before turning to face his sensei. Inside he really didn't want to do this right now, he wanted to find the man named Shibumi and ask him exactly who this Kenpachi guy was. But reason remarkably held sway over haste in the brain of one Uzumaki Naruto, since training for any coming battles was of more importance, if only by a small margin. "To recap, what did you learn from our last session? What did we discuss?" Hizashi asked, waiting patiently for the expected answer to be given.

Naruto closed his eyes and called upon his incredible memory, and like the pages of a text book the information came to him within a fraction of an instant. "The Juken style of combat aims to damage the body's chakra circulatory system, thus inhibiting an opponent's use of chakra. To do this, the user will forcefully insert a small amount of their own chakra into an opponent's chakra circulatory system, causing the targeted area to rupture or divert flow. Alternatively, or as an additional effect, the same method can be used to damage the opponent's internal organs, to which the chakra circulatory system is closely tied. Even the slightest tap from this style can cause major damage, hence the name. As there is no way to train the internal organs to become stronger, this technique is capable of causing damage no matter how physically powerful the opponent is. Because the chakra circulatory system is invisible, the Byakugan is required for this style to be used effectively and thus it is exclusive to the Hyuga clan…"

"Good, but where does Kyuuten Kaihousho differ from this description?"

"…Kyuuten Kaihousho was a style originally developed for defense. Damage is done through misdirection and counter attacks executed with the preservation of life as a key ideal. In this sense it can be seen as similar to other spiritual self defense styles such as Bando or Tai Chi, where the practitioners wait for their opponents to move before making their own complementary maneuver. Through discipline of both a physical and mental nature, practitioners of Kyuuten Kaihousho harmonize their external movements with the internal flow of their chakra, allowing them to move with greater dexterity and precision than some other styles of taijutsu. This harmony was developed to a great extent by users of the Juken, who need a near perfect control of their chakra current in order to execute their styles techniques…" Naruto stated, his eyes still closed as the information played itself at the back of his mind.

As he spoke, his mind latched onto the 'recorded' movements he had seen when reading the Forbidden Scroll and his own copied details. Like with his clan katana and the kenjutsu scroll, Naruto's brain took that information and broke it down into signals to send to his limbs and muscles, and in a miraculous display of muscle memory Naruto began to subconsciously move through the kata.

"…the Brethren of the Open Palm used nature as an influence to develop the movements of Kyuuten Kaihousho. During moments of Zen peace and meditation they observed the world around them, animals, plants, rivers and mountains. They observed and were inspired to create the Way of the Eagle, the Way of the Tiger, the Way of the Deer, the Way of the Viper, the Way of the Python, the Way of the Boar, the Way of the Scorpion, the Way of the Monkey, the Way of the Bull and the Way of the Panther, the ten ways of the beast…."

"…To complement these the ways of nature were created, the Way of the Birch, the Way of the River, the Way of the Ash, the Way of the Oak, the Way of the Willow, the Way of the Elm, the Way of the Cloud, the Way of the Alerce, the Way of the Stone and the Way of the Matai. Each way focuses on a particular aspect of their namesake, for example the Viper form stresses flexibility whilst the Alerce follows rising motions like the tallest of trees. Intermingled with these motions, is the knowledge gained by the Brethren from their studies, knowledge such as the true path of the Hachimon and the existence of the tenketsu."

"Excellent. Why was the style sealed away within the Forbidden Scroll? Have you unraveled that mystery since we last saw each other Naruto?" Hizashi asked, watching intently as his pupil moved with unnatural grace through what he could only surmise were the forms of Kyuuten Kaihousho. He had learnt the meanings behind the style from his discussions with the spirits of the Afterlife, but he had never witnessed the style in motion. In many ways it was an exact copy of the Juken that he had learnt as a boy.

'No…' he corrected himself '…moreover the Juken is a copy of this style. And Naruto has subconsciously learnt it in its purest form...the raw skill he has within his body and mind is staggering.'

"…The reasons behind the styles sealing are as follows. The secrets its holds are of grave potency, which is reason enough. True masters of this style are able to open, with the inner clam they cultivate during their training with a greatly decreased level of ill effect, the Hachimon. It was even believed that they could open the Shimon without dying, achieving for a brief period of time the power of a Kage. Also, it is believed that the sealing process was speeded by elders of the Hyuga clan, who believed the existence of a style similar to their own was a threat to the clan's way of life. These same elders had long since forgotten that without Kyuuten Kaihousho, the Juken would have never existed."

Naruto opened his eyes as he finished his answer to the sound of clapping. He froze and looked down upon himself, and noted that somehow he had moved from a thoughtful standing posture to a low crouch. His right knee was bent at an angle with his left leg extended outwards for balance. His arms were held in a corkscrew position, with one arm angled inwards with an outwards facing palm and twisted wrist. The opposing arm mirrored this image exactly. Naruto could also tell that he had moved a good five feet from his original spot. "What just happened?" he asked out loud, hoping that Hizashi had had his eyes open to witness his strange events.

Hizashi looked at his pupil, and instead of answering immediately began to laugh. Throwing his head back, the Hyuga allowed his usual stoicism to melt away as he simply enjoyed the spectacle he had witnessed. Finally stopping, he wiped a tear from his eyes and took a deep breath, regaining his composure once more. "It would seem Naruto-san that you are further along your development that I had first thought. But considering the unique aptitude's you have displayed previously that comes as no real surprise. What you have just been doing, as you orated to me what we had discussed the other day with your eyes closed, is subconsciously move your body through the kata of Kyuuten Kaihousho…the various ways of beast and nature that you listed…."

"…As we intended, you have slowly begun to broaden your horizons in the physical. Since you appear to be able to perform the movements of the style, any further instruction concerning them seems pointless. It is up to you to practice them. We shall move your lessons onwards…I shall now begin to impart upon you the ideals and methods behind the chakra based side of the style. The manipulation of yours and your opponent's chakra present in both Kyuuten Kaihousho and Juken, the intricate knowledge of tenketsu points and their locations, and so on. I can only hope that these particular aspects of the style's takes you less than a day or two to master" Hizashi said, finishing with a warm smile which was exchanged wholeheartedly between sensei and student. With those words over, Hizashi began to speak once again. As with before, Naruto opened both his ears and his mind in readiness to take in every scrap of wisdom his departed sensei would give him.

**Later in the Real World**

Naruto opened his eyes and felt a slight shuddering sensation take place within his cranium as his brain digested all of the new information. Today's lesson with Hizashi-sensei had been a deeply powerful one; the secrets he had learnt were amazing and scary at the same time. Now all he needed to do was allow his mind to guide his body into accepting these skills. His spiritual self had gone through the movements of Kyuuten Kaihousho's forms, but his physical self had not.

Getting up from his seated position, Naruto walked over to where Hinata was standing. Her Byakugan was still active, meaning that he had either very little time had passed in the real world and it was still her turn at sweep duty, or that a great deal of time had passed and she had been kind enough to give him time by continuing with her turn beyond their agreed time. "How long have I been out?" he asked gingerly, cracking his neck to one side to relieve the small amount of tension that had built up there.

"About forty three minutes Naruto-kun. I gather you were communicating with the spirits again" came the reply from the normally timid girl. Remarkably this time Hinata had refrained from flinching at Naruto's voice or stammering at all, and the improvement was not lost on her friend. 'Strange, it felt like hours within that place. Time really does flow differently' he thought.

"How are the trees?" Naruto said quietly, keeping his voice and manner as neutral as possible. Hinata caught the arranged code phrase and replied the answer "The leaves are steady, the wind is not blowing strong."

Nodding, Naruto moved to observe the bustling construction work. Despite the constant fear of attack, all of the men (and women in some cases) working on the bridge were doing an amazing job. Great metal girders were welded in place beside immense blocks of concrete, everyone moving with a near ceaseless vigour and determination. But then again, what better motivator that the prospect of prosperity, the hope of seeing their homeland restored. Looking up at the sky, Naruto noted from the suns current position that they probably had another hour or so before he and Hinata switched with the next pair.

"Hey Hinata, take a break okay. I'll go on patrol for a while, need to stretch my legs y'know" he said to his friend and 'pupil'. The lavender eyed girl tried to argue, saying that it was still her turn to sweep the perimeter with her Byakugan. These words fell on deaf ears, as Naruto had already leapt into the air and was sailing over the bridges edge into the woodland surrounding it.

Hinata watched her friend disappear into the trees, smiling slightly at the reckless abandon he seemed to show in his pursuits. That was what she loved about him so much, his ability to appear calm and contented against everything, to stand when others would stay fallen. She was so caught up in her wistful reverie that she did not notice Tazuna approaching her.

"That kid sure is something else. First he's meditating one minute, and then shootin off like a firework the other. Hurts my head just watchin him" the gruff man said, taking off one of his work gloves to scratch the side of his face. Hinata nodded and said nothing in reply; her thoughts were still focused on the trees.

**Elsewhere**

Shibumi sat on the banks of the lake, contentedly holding his fishing rod. He found there was no greater pleasure to be found in life than catching fish. The key skill of patience and strength were paramount in fishing, and unlike hunting a certain degree of luck was involved as well. A man could sit for days and not catch a single fish, whilst another could catch dozens in the space of an hour. He had been fishing since he was a small child, as had his father and his father before that back through the generations for centuries. At one time, their clan the Miwaku had been one of the best known clans in their small land, bringing in masses of fish and seafood from the oceans surrounding their island home. But very recently, that prosperity had been curtailed by a certain business tycoon, and Shibumi had to wonder if his family would ever recover.

"Kenpachi, you would know what to do wouldn't you. But…you died didn't you. It's getting harder for me to remember things these days, you always told me I would go senile…seems like you were right after all" the old man lamented softly, his eyes never leaving the waters surface.

Because of this, the old man was quite fortunate to witness the bizarre sight of a spiky haired blonde boy wearing a black and orange clothes land hard on the surface of the water in front of him, causing barely a ripple. Naruto bent his knee's and bunched the muscles in his thighs ready to catapult him forwards on his predetermined route, turning his head from one side to the next to check his surroundings. He saw the old man and briefly registered his appearance before firing from the water into the air. Then the thought struck him 'Wait a sec…wasn't that the Shibumi guy I was going to look for.' Spiralling in mid-air, Naruto turned his body to face the other direction before landing hard on the surface of the lake in a perfect about face. Not wanting to overshoot the old man and lose him, he decided to run instead of jumping as he had been for the past ten minutes.

Shibumi blinked several times, trying to clarify in his head exactly what he had just seen. 'Either that was one huge blonde cricket, or I just saw that ninja kid Tazuna was talking about pass by. I wonder why he seems so familiar, have I met him before' the old man thought, senility unfortunately erasing from his short term memory the fact that he had met said 'ninja kid' only days ago. He was about to brush it off and continue fishing, when a slight ripple caught his attention. Before he knew it, Shibumi found himself staring at the kid once again, who was both breathing a little heavily and standing on the waters surface.

"Your name is Shibumi…isn't it?" Naruto blurted out, causing the man to raise an eyebrow in surprise.

"Yes, Miwaku Shibumi at your service. I'm sorry but my memory isn't what it used to be. Who are you young man? Have we met before?" the old man replied with a smile, his face the picture of elderly innocence.

Naruto took a deep breath and clamed his nerves. He needed to be as cool as possible if he was to learn anything of this enigmatic Mizurasen or Kenpachi or whatever he was called. "Gomen, I was being rude. What I meant to do was ask your name politely, but I forgot my manners for a moment. My name is Uzumaki Naruto, shinobi of Konohagakure no Sato. I was told by my employer Tazuna-san that you knew of a man named Kenpachi, I was wondering if you could tell me about him?"

Shibumi's expression saddened the instant he heard the name. "Yeah…I 'knew' Kenpachi alright. Knew him for fourteen years until…that day…" he said, a small tear falling down the weathered flesh of his cheek. "…Why do you want to talk about Kenpachi? If you're stayin with Tazuna then you know he an that boy Kaiza were executed by Gato for their 'crimes' against him. Crimes, the only thing that son of mine was guilty of was loving this land. He saved us all more times than I can think of, and that runty bastard accuses him of 'upsetting the peace' and performing 'acts of terrorism'. Lies, all of it."

Naruto walked onto the shoreline and sat down beside the man. He looked him in they eyes and winced, the old guy was clearly in a great deal of pain, and not the curable physical kind. "Could you tell me about him…please? I don't really know yet, but it is possible that this man you knew once meant a great deal to someone close to me. I just want to know more about him."

Shibumi looked hard at Naruto for what the blonde felt was a very long time. "Sure…why not…" he finally said with a small smile, before casting his eyes onto the lake. "…It was fourteen years ago when I met Kenpachi. I was out sea fishing with my two boys Keiichi and Tanaka, when we saw what we thought was a log floating in the water. Turned out to be the unconscious body of one Uzumaki Kenpachi…strange, he has the same clan name as you. Anyway, we took the kid back to our house and put him to bed. He had some pretty nasty wounds, cuts all over his body that kept bleeding cause of the salt water. He couldn't have been shy of nineteen then, barely a man. He woke up after three days of heavy sleep, wonderin where he was. We introduced ourselves, me ma wife and sons, explaining how we found him. Turned out he was a shinobi fugitive, on the run from Kirigakure hunter-nin. He told us he had never been affiliated with them, that he was a shinobi of the Uzumaki clan from Uzumaki no Kuni…"

"…He told us that not long ago he had witnessed his home swallowed by Mizu no Kuni and assimilated by force, the doing of the Mizukage he said. He an his fellow clan members had managed to escape with their lives, but apparently one Uzumaki had betrayed the clan an sided with the enemy, telling them where they might be. He had been in a fight with the hunter-nin after him, beatin them off but not without being wounded. Drifted for days at the mercy of the sea, before currents led him here to Nami no Kuni…"

Shibumi sighed "…didn't take long for him to recover, and in good time too cos those ninja after him…well they found him. Took 'em about a week but they found him. They claimed to be the advance guard of a platoon coming to take control of Nami, like they had done with his home. He didn't take too kindly to that, and started fightin. You should have seen the boy in action, sending out…what're they called…jutsu, oh yeah…sending out all these water jutsu an lightning jutsu. He was a force a nature I tell you, a force of nature. Sent those shinobi packin, he did, but not before one of 'em sent word to his pals…"

"…didn't take long for more to come, but Kenpachi see he was clever. Made these mines using clay and some mumbo jumbo he called explosive seals, mixed em with oil and placed em all over the bay. All us villagers were scared, as anyone with brains would be when faced with shinobi. I don't mean to disrespect ya boy, but fella's in your line of work…well some of them are downright scary. Well, Kenpachi drew them into the bay with traps and ploys, before setting off his mines and causing all manner a explosions. The oil kept the flames burning on the surface of the water, trapping those Kirigakure shinobi. It was then that Kenpachi got to work, attacking them with this sword and all his jutsu. It was tough for him, but he took 'em all on and killed every last one of them…"

"…It was the jutsu he used at the end, told me it was a jutsu passed down through his clan. Suiton! Mizurasen no Jutsu was its name, created this great typhoon of water that first shoots up outta the surface before sucking its prey to the bottom of the sea. He left one alive, to tell the Mizukage that the land was defended…and from that point he said he would stay here. Said he lost his home because he was too weak, and that if he defended Nami from invasion then maybe he might regain some honour. We were all really grateful, so I adopted him into my clan and the villagers gave him the nickname 'Mizurasen', on the count of the jutsu he used. He lived in this land since, protecting us all. But that position made him a prime target for that dog Gato. He captured a group of men including Tsunami's man Kaiza, and when Kenpachi tried to rescue them the bastard was somehow able to weaken him to the point where he was easily captured as well. I don't know what that kid went through, but from the looks of him an Kaiza when they were executed, the podgy little turd put then both through a hell of torture. Breaks my heart every time I think about it."

Naruto sat through the story with his hands in his lap, envisioning every detail. A shinobi without a home defends a land without anyone to defend it; if he never saw the man then he would be happy simply knowing his story. 'But why can't I see him in Shinzui Hashi. If he's dead and his spirits passed on then I should have met him somehow…unless he hasn't passed on. I wonder…could he still be lingering' Naruto thought to himself, his face switching between expressions of anger and sadness.

"Gomen Shibumi-san, I realise this is a hard subject for you and I thank you for telling me everything you have so far. There is one more thing I would like to know…was Kenpachi-san…after his execution were he and Kaiza, were their bodies laid to rest?" Naruto asked with a small quiver to his voice. The more he was learning about this man, the more it seemed that he was a lost member of the clan Uzumaki. And since he had died recently, that meant he had been alive for all of this time. Alongside his apparent relatives in Kusagakure, this was another relative that Naruto might have never known existed.

Shibumi closed his eyes and nodded "Of course they were buried. Gato left their bodies tied to the execution posts for us to remove…the sick bastard stayed with those samurai of his to watch us take the remains down. Kaiza and Kenpachi were buried in specially marked graves at the town ceremony. Kaiza's is marked by a three wave lines and Kenpachi's is marked by a spiral. That was just about the last act we all did as a united town, before the malaise and poverty set in."

Naruto hummed for a while, before standing up and reaching into his pocket to produce a small scroll marked 'Currency'. He unfurled the scroll partially and performed a quick release seal to unseal one of the many sections marked out on the paper. There was a small poof of smoke revealing a small leather bag tied with string. Naruto took the bag and handed it to Shibumi.

"I know this probably won't be enough to cover the grief you have suffered, but I would like you to have it anyway. Consider it thanks from the last surviving Uzumaki, for taking care of one of my clansmen in his time of need. And rest assured, I and my allies will not rest until this bridge is built and Gato is purged from this land. This I promise you on my honour" the blonde said with careful deliberation, before turning in the direction of the bridge and leaping into the trees.

Shibumi once again blinked hard several times, before opening the bag. With a gasp, he emptied its contents onto his robed lap. The contents of the small leather bag were six gold ingots, more money than Shibumi had ever seen in his life. Wiping the tears from his face, the old man looked into the trees with a beaming smile on his face. 'That kid is something else…just like you Kenpachi' he thought, before returning to his fishing rod.

**Elsewhere**

Sasuke looked up at his nemesis, focusing all of his frustration on its form. He had been running up the damned tree for what felt like forever, and he still wasn't progressing as fast as he believed he should be. Still, training using the technique he had copied from Naruto instead of the basic one everyone else was using had its advantages. Sasuke could physically feel himself becoming stronger, faster, the focussed splitting of his chakra in opposite flowing directions pushing his body harder than it had been pushed in a long time. If he could reach the top of the tree using this technique, the annoying gap between him and Naruto would be greatly lessened.

'Naruto, always training alone, hiding your tricks from all others. What could be so important that you and Hinata train apart from the rest of us' he thought with irritation, taking a small gulp of water from his canteen. As the cooling liquid ran down his throat, quenching his thirst, the Uchiha turned to look at his 'training partner'. Kiba was performing admirably for an average shinobi, reaching a decent distance up his own tree. He might clear his goal by the end of the day, tomorrow noon at the latest. Whereas he, and Uchiha was lagging behind at just shy of two thirds.

He gritted his teeth and gathered the chakra within his centre, before diverting it in the two separate directions of his feet and his forehead. With a roar, Sasuke ran at the tree with all of his rising speed, breaking the bark slightly as his foot slammed into its surface. He pushed his body up and up, and within moments his previous slash mark was within sight. He could feel his chakra surging through every fibre of his being and in a brief rush of energy he pushed beyond his former mark by a full five feet. Elated he slashed the bark with his kunai and flipped off of the tree, ricocheting off several other tree's until he landed calmly on the ground.

Landing to the sound of clapping, Sasuke spun on his heels to see Kakashi, still burdened with his crutches. "Pretty good Sasuke, considering that's not the regular technique we gave you to perform. Tell me, why are you undergoing the split chakra exercise? Something like that seems to be a little above genin level."

"Anything that's good enough for Naruto is good enough for me. Besides, I'm in a different league to the others, they're not even on my radar" Sasuke replied confidently.

"Really, not even on your radar huh. I suppose Naruto is a little exception to that rule…" this comment elicited a small growl from the raven haired genius "…but then again what you say is true. With your hereditary kekkai genkai, you are placed in a category separate to your fellow genin. The sharingan allows a shinobi to cut corners and accelerate their growth in amazing ways, take it from someone who knows."

Kakashi tapped his hitai-ate with one finger, saying with a typical 'eye smile' "When I received my sharingan, it was to replace an eye damaged beyond repair. Because of this it is activated constantly, draining me of chakra unless I keep it covered. But as a true blood Uchiha, you can activate and deactivate your sharingan on a whim."

The mention of his kekkai genkai doujutsu made Sasuke grimace. What Kakashi said was completely true; the sharingan did hold the potential to push a shinobi's skills to unthinkable levels. But he was yet to even awaken his eyes, a fact that more recently had infuriated him more and more.

Kakashi hobbled over to the Uchiha and looked the boy in the eyes, his expression turning serious for a moment. "Sasuke, I realise you are pushing yourself hard because you feel threatened by Naruto, but don't overdo it. Drive is one thing, it is considered mandatory for a person who wishes to succeed in our trade. But obsession is something else entirely…you know what obsession is don't you…"

Sasuke's eyes narrowed, a memory of that fateful night years ago flickering through the ether of his mind. He barely noticed Kakashi continue, his mind turning to his brother and his anger rising. "…Usually I would be inclined to leave you be, but in the circumstances I believe it necessary to intervene. We as a team are in a situation where we are facing an unknown but very skilled group of opponents, and I need every member of Team 7 to be at their feasible best. With this in mind, I have decided to train you personally with the hope of activating your sharingan."

These words caught Sasuke's attention amidst his bloody imagination, and he turned away from the image of his brother's battered corpse to look at his appointed sensei. The man seemed genuine, and considering his own ability with the sharingan (Sasuke had noticed the fully evolved triple tomoe in the iris) he might be the answer the Uchiha had been looking for. Smiling, he could only reply "So when do we start?"

**Later**

After returning to the bridge and reporting his patrols findings, nothing out of the unusual as before, Naruto had waited with Hinata until Sasuke and Kiba arrived with Kakashi to relieve them. Naruto gave Hinata a quick list of training he wanted her to do whilst he was away, explaining that there was something he needed to do elsewhere and that he would be back to train with her before long. The Hyuga girl made no comment on her friend's behaviour; she knew that whatever it was he needed to do was important to him.

Heading in the direction of the town, Naruto leapt across the ramshackle rooftops and ran atop the canals crisscrossing the area, so as to avoid the crowded streets. He arrived in the town cemetery, and took a moment to inspect the area. It was a serene and oddly beautiful place, set atop a massive hillside covered in bamboo. Area's within the bamboo forest had been cleared and levelled to provide spots for burial, from the entrance Naruto could see roughly forty seven different cleared area's, each containing seven to twelve graves. The graves were simple, made up of a basic white basalt headstone and little else. Flowers dotted certain graves, and the older graves were less white that others having been dulled by time and the elements.

'I can't waste too much time, I need to find Kenpachi's grave and quick' Naruto thought, forming the seal for the Kage Bunshin jutsu. Forty seven clones poofed into existence and scattered immediately to search each clearing at once. When they were done checking out each grave for the special markings that Shibumi had mentioned, they dispelled themselves to send the information of their findings back to Naruto. After about eighteen minutes Naruto's eyes finally opened and with great haste he headed in the direction his clone had mentioned.

The spiral marked grave was placed in one of the clearings on the far side of the cemetery. The ground was greener here than the other clearings, and the earth where the four graves were dug was still noticeably disturbed. Naruto walked over to the grave whose headstone was marked with nothing but a small spiral etched at its upper right corner. 'So this is where Uzumaki Kenpachi's body lays…the body of the uncle I never knew' he thought with a sad smile.

"So you're finally here"

The ghostly voice echoed through the clearing causing Naruto to jump. 'Why is it always clearings in spooky locations?' Naruto asked himself, his eyes darting all around him to try to find the source of the voice. Since learning about the legend of the Densetsu no Kyunin and the Kagetentei, Naruto had become acutely aware about just how intricately linked he was to the spirit plane. Using the Shinzui Hashi, he could travel to an originally self created bridging realm to commune with the souls of those long since dead.

Since then, Shinzui Hashi had evolved into a completely autonomous place and was continuing to evolve, and Naruto had developed a way to talk to spirits using his thoughts and mind, the Shinzui Komyu. With these facts as a basis, Naruto had already begun to theories the ways in which he would continue to evolve in terms of contacting and meeting the dead. Perhaps being able to see earth bound spirits and other supernatural entities was another skill he might soon be able to call his own.

"I was wondering when you would finally come to this place. I sensed your presence the moment you set foot on the island, and knew all I had to do was wait patiently and you would come to me…Naruto" said the voice again. Naruto listened closely, this time the voice sounded closer, in fact it sounded like it was behind him.

Jumping into the air and performing a quick mid-air flip, Naruto landed several feet away from his original position with two kunai drawn, one in each hand. The sight he saw made his insides wrench and boil with raw emotion. Opposite him was a man wearing clothing that looked like a cross between a martial artists training gi and a chuunin shinobi's usual attire of black undergarments and flak jacket. The lower half was covered with dark blue trousers with metal shin guards. The upper half was covered by a dark blue robe-like piece worn underneath a strange jacket. It was like a chuunins jacket, except modelled more so on a sleeveless vest with the scroll pockets on the stomach area. Over his bare forearms were armguards, and a hitai-ate with a spiralling symbol etched into the metal was worn as a belt. This appearance might have been viewed by some as strange, but Naruto knew that with all of the various shinobi clans in existence, the variety of attire would be equally as immense.

But it wasn't really the clothing that made him gasp. Moreover it was the mans face that had rocked Naruto to the core. Though he knew that his own appearance was a sign of his fathers gene's at work, he knew also he had to have received something from his mother's chromosomes as well. He was yet to meet his mother, but standing before him was some pretty damning evidence. The face of the man before him was almost an exact copy of his own fathers, except the eyes and the hair were different. This mans eyes were vermillion and his hair colour was a chestnut brown. It was pretty spiky like Naruto and his fathers, but the difference was in the length, the hair reached down to the middle of the mans back in a great spiky mane. What's more, the entire form of the man was like a mirage, his spirit appearing as if made from smoke and shadows.

"So you're Kushina and Minato's kid. Gotta say you're the spitting image of your old man, but there's still a little Uzumaki in there"

Naruto swallowed hard and retracted his dual kunai. "You're…you're Uzumaki Kenpachi aren't you?" he said with a tremor in his voice.

"In the fle…yeah, that'd be me" the man replied, smiling awkwardly and rubbing the back of his neck.

"How is this possible? How do you know about my parents, oyaji told me you had died a long time ago" Naruto stuttered, trying to work out what was going on in his head. He had imagined that Kenpachi's spirit could be bound to Nami by his oath to protect it, since spirits with unfinished business on earth are unable to cross over. But in his wildest dreams he had never considered the theory to be a reality.

"I may be bound to my grave, but I still get the news bulletin. I can talk to everyone else…just not see them. Pissed me off when I discovered everyone had survived as well, made me feel guilty as hell for not leaving to find them. But I had made my promise to old man Shibumi-san, and I couldn't just walk away from it" Kenpachi said with a sigh.

Naruto narrowed his eyes, trying to understand what he was being told. He always found it annoying when he only received part of the story from people. If what the ghost of his mother's brother was telling him was true, then whilst he was living he had believed the majority of his clan to be dead or in hiding. And when he had died, his bound spirit was somehow able to communicate with the other spirits of his clan and thus learn the truth. "You believed everyone else had died didn't you. That you were the sole survivor of the Uzumaki clan" Naruto said numbly.

Kenpachi looked at the ground, the memories playing behind the retinas of his eyes. "Pretty much. During the invasion of Uzumaki, things got pretty fucked up real quickly. Everyone was scattered, our defences broken before they could be properly erected. I saw so many friends and clansmen die, and when the order to retreat came I just ran and ran. We all did, moving with the speed you get only when your life is hanging by a thread. And when those Kiri-shinobi ambushed me, I thought it was over for me. Got knocked unconscious and drifted with the tide till Shibumi-san found me, and during that time all I did was dream of the past events over and over again…"

"…Dreamt I saw my family die, my clan die, and my beautiful home land burnt to ash. Then I woke up and met Shibumi-san and his family, and I faced the same situation all over again. The land around me being attacked with the intention of destruction saturating the air I was breathing. I beat back the platoon of Kirigakure shinobi through a shit load of dumb luck and the skills my old man beat into Kushina, me and my other siblings. And when I stood there on the waters surface, bleeding and breathing through a punctured lung, I realised that here in this place I had a chance to make a difference…"

"…Nami no Kuni is such a small place, barely a third of the size of Uzumaki no Kuni, making it more vulnerable from attacks and take over's. What's more it has no feudal lord or shinobi, so there's nobody to watch over and protect the ordinary folk who go about their day to day lives. So I became that guarding, warding off nuke-nin and smugglers and generally keeping the place clean for twelve years. Until Gato came here…and, well…you know the rest from Shibumi-san" Kenpachi finished with a small grimace.

Naruto could picture it in his head, his uncle being struck down by some hired nuke-nin thug before being tied to some rack or cross and tortured till he could barely remain conscious. Then his arms are broken and severed, before finally in front of all of those he defended and cared for being beheaded. Unable to control himself, Naruto could feel the anger he felt sitting beside Shibumi and hearing his side of the story rise up again. He clenched his fists until his knuckles turned as white as the head stones of the cemetery, his teeth grinding against one another within his mouth.

The anger dissipated slightly when he heard Kenpachi continue, his tone a little softer this time. "Naruto, I really am sorry I never came for you. After…'talking' to my sister and hearing about how you've been treated growing up, it burns like hell inside when I think I could've helped you. Taught you about your legacy, the legacy of the Uzumaki clan."

The words made Naruto smile as a rather obvious point struck him. "You can teach me these things Kenpachi-otooji. You can teach me everything about my mom's clan to me in Shinzui Hashi."

The man looked puzzled for a moment, before realization dawned upon him. "Oh yeah, I remember Minato talking about that place…a realm created using chakra to bridge the gap between the real world and the plain of spirits. Only trouble is, I can't leave this land…my soul is bound here" the man said with some degree of sadness.

"Not for long…" Naruto replied, seeing the questioning look on his uncle's face. "…your spirit is bound to this place because of the oath you swore to keep it safe. The only trouble is with Gato still strangling the life from Nami, the land remains in a state of jeopardy. But my comrades and I are here to guard Tazuna as he builds his bridge, and that brings us into direct conflict with Gato and his hired nuke-nin. So a member of the Uzumaki clan will bring peace once more to this land...and that Uzumaki will be me. Then your spirit will finally be able to move on and we can talk and see each other within Shinzui Hashi."

Kenpachi looked at his nephew and smiled, 'He's got Kushina's guts that's for sure. And his father's brains, the mind of the genius Yondaime Hokage that my sister fell in love with. Perhaps the kid is right…once I see that Nami is safe I can finally be at peace' he thought to himself as he gazed up at the sunlight.

Naruto looked at his uncle's spirit, the anger he felt towards Gato rising once more for a third time, diluted only by the pity he felt for the man who once broke bread with the mother he never knew. He began to walk out of the bamboo clearing, but paused just to say one thing. "Don't worry Kenpachi-otooji. On my honour I shall see this land restored, as the last Uzumaki I swear it," and with those words uttered Naruto bent slightly and performed what seemed to be a trademark exit for him nowadays. With a push that dented the earth, he leapt into the sky and out of view.

Kenpachi watched his nephew disappear, enjoying the sight of seeing such typical behaviour from an Uzumaki. "I believe you nephew, you do have the strength to free this land where I could not. There will be no poison to slow your blood, you're too young to be overcome by that. And as you grow stronger, I can watch you alongside my departed kindred from the spirit realm and smile with pride at your endeavours…" he said, looking out of the corner of his eye at the second figure standing in the clearing "…and maybe he can restore happiness to Inari and Tsunami as well. After all, isn't that what's holding you back…Kaiza."

The ethereal figure came to stand by Kenpachi, looking out with the man into the cloudy sky. He was clad in simple peasants clothing, and was characterised by his trademark knotted rope headband. "Yeah, maybe you're right in that Kenpachi" the man said, thinking of the family that had come to embrace him as one of their own. 'Inari…be strong son, be strong for your old man' he thought, a tear drifting down his ghostly cheek before evaporating into mist.

**Elsewhere**

Zabuza lay in his bed, pouring every ounce of his incredible will to forcing his body to get better. He was moving now easier than he could, say, two days ago, but he needed to regain his strength to its fullest if he was to tackle the Konoha shinobi again. This time he would go better prepared, and he would be leaving with Haku, Tsugime and the Demon Brothers by his side. As his subordinates dealt with the genin, he would take his Kubikiri Hocho and take Hatake Kakashi's head. And his limbs, and his organs…before repeating the same process on the genjutsu casting bitch Yuuhi Kurenai. Hearing noises at the door, he pushed himself upright slightly to acknowledge who was entering.

Haku and Tsugime entered, he knew they had returned a while ago after leaving to go pick Haku's medicinal herbs. Carrying a tray bearing a cup filled with a steaming solution, Haku looked at her master and teacher. "Zabuza-san, I have brought you some fresh herbal tea to speed the recovery process. Also, I have some news concerning the Konoha shinobi" the girl said in her usual calm tone of voice. Zabuza looked at the herbal tea with hate, he always hated drinking the foul stuff no matter how well it worked. But on hearing the word 'Konoha' he perked up slightly.

"Do tell Haku…do tell."

**Two Days Later**

The next two days passed by in a blur. Filled with the urgency of their situation, both groups but everything they had into their endeavours. As the Konoha shinobi trained themselves, so did the Kirigakure nuke-nin. All of the genin had mastered the Tree Climbing exercise, so Kurenai and Kakashi took two of the pairs aside for personal tuition. Although they had been doing so already, this new phase of training had an energy unlike the previous one.

Kurenai took Sakura and Shino and trained them to hone their support skills, since they would be needed to defend Tazuna and aid the more assault based ones among the group. Sasuke and Kiba were taken aside by Kakashi, who in a smart move had Kiba and Sasuke spar on a near continued basis for their training. This allowed Kiba to sharpen his techniques and become faster, and Sasuke began to become more adept at reading and opponents faster movements. Because as Kakashi explained, this was a key factor to awakening the sharingan, since one of its most potent skills was the ability to read movements and the flow of chakra in an opponent.

As for Naruto and Hinata, the two jounin decided between themselves that it was best to leave the pair to their own devices, since they seemed to be doing so well by themselves. Hinata mastered Water Walking on the fifth day, and became fairly proficient at the meditative and chakra burning exercises. After that point, she and Naruto trained in taijutsu sparring with one another, Naruto using his new style Kyuuten Kaihousho and Hinata using her families Juken style.

With the promise he made to his uncles spirit always at the forefront of his mind, Naruto threw himself into a relentless training regime. The work he put his body through in those two days almost, and that's a big almost, eclipsed the effort he underwent months ago training to return to the Academy. During the mornings he would enter Shinzui Hashi and talk with Hizashi, who praised his diligence and willingness to learn. They talked about the Juken and any possible improvements that could be made to the style and its technique's. Naruto grilled Hizashi on everything he knew, from strategy to technique creation. And when he was done in Shinzui Hashi, Naruto would return to the real world and put into practice what he had learnt.

Hinata was amazed at just how quickly Naruto was picking up her family style, but he simply answered any praise with curt answers like 'I've just developed a knack for chakra control' and similar phrases. Together they worked to increase their skills, Hinata was merely happy to be acknowledged by somebody she had looked up to for so many years. When he put forth his idea for a technique that they could develop for her to use, she was amazed at the belief he had in her.

As for the Kirigakure nuke-nin, they too trained in their won particular fashions. The Demon Brothers still relentlessly developed their chain attacks. Between tending to the healing Zabuza, Haku and Tsugime took to area's of seclusion to practice their kekkai genkai technique's, Tsugime flowing through her clans dances, Haku practicing her born ability to control and create ice. As they did so, their leader steadily got better to the point where he could once more pick up his beloved sword.

**Back at Tazuna's**

The Konoha group sat at the dinner table, eating the delicious meal that Tsunami had prepared for them. They were all having a well earned rest after another day's hard training, and were all in pretty high spirits. Kakashi had abandoned his crutches, his body having returned to its former state of health, a fact the jounin proved by joining Naruto and Hinata for their run across the lake on the morning of the seventh day.

Sitting back, the silver haired jounin looked over at his young charges and couldn't help but feel pride swell in his chest. As their sensei it was a joy to see them all push themselves to become better, his own team in particular had come on in peals and bounds. Kurenai had taught Sakura a simple genjutsu that the pink haired girl had grasped upon with almost hunger, spurred on as she was to catch up with Naruto and Sasuke. And speaking of the Uchiha, the onyx eyed boy had improved a great deal in his ability to read movements and react to them as an Uchiha would. By Kakashi's reckoning, all it would take is one more high speed battle and the sharingan would awaken in its two tomoe stage.

As for Naruto, well the jounin knew that whatever the boy was doing he was putting a great deal of effort into it. Every day he returned to Tazuna's home drenched in sweat and at the point of unconsciousness, and Kakashi couldn't help but marvel at the power of the blonde's stamina. He was like one of those saiyans he had read about in that manga he had borrowed from Obito when he himself was a child, all those years ago. No matter what abuse Naruto took, he simply bounced back stronger that ever. And this was in tern rubbing off on Hinata, who no longer seemed as timorous as she once was. Behind the girls demure face both Kakashi and Kurenai could see an iron will developing, and they both agreed that upon returning to Konoha the dismissive attitude of her father Hiashi would be knocked down a peg or two.

Everyone chatted back and forth, enjoying the warmth and company and generally bonding as a team. Soun had come to visit to discuss the next order of raw materials, iron rods and stone for the bridge. The Konoha group had always wondered why the man they had been hired to guard on the way back here with Tazuna had never been present during the past week, but as Tazuna explained to them Soun was in charge of the supply side of the construction business. He smuggled the materials in under Gato's nose at great risk with the other members of his local construction firm, it was his men who had stuck with Tazuna up until this point when others had left.

"Yeah I am running low on pillar blocks Soun, so those are a priority. But at any rate, work is progressing well. The bridge should be complete soon if all goes well" Tazuna said, sharing a bottle of sake with his brother-in-law.

"I understand that brother…" Soun said, taking a gulp of sake from his cup "…but its becoming harder to keep clear of the patrols, ever since Gato hired more of those damned bandits."

"I understand that, but we still need to press on. We all have a duty to this land to see this bridge completed, before that worm drags us down to a point that we can never recover from" the bridge builder replied.

As the conversations moved back and forth, one occupant in particular was silent. Inari stared at the figure opposite him with annoyance, how could the blonde weirdo sleep now. All he was doing was prolong the inevitable, they all were. These morose feelings swelled and grew, and as memories of 'that' day flashed back in the young boys mind Inari found it harder and harder to keep his peace. Unable to keep his feeling bottled up anymore, Inari stood up from his seat and slammed his hands down on the table, creating an immediate hush and silenced everyone and woke the dozing Naruto from his slumber.

"None of you get it at all. Why do you wear yourselves out trying? No matter how hard you train, you'll never be a match for Gato's thugs! You all act cool, and you all talk tough but guys like Gato's men are always stronger than your kind of people, they'll destroy you!" the boy cried, his voice becoming stronger with each word.

"Don't judge us" Shino spoke behind his collar. Most people wondered how on earth he ate with the thing on, but whenever they looked they could only see his kikaichu bugs swarming over small mounds of food on the table, so they all learned not to look at all.

"Yeah, we wont lose to that guy" Kiba said with pride, his hand under the table feeding Akamaru scraps. The rest of the genin said small words to the same effect, each in their own unique way as typical of their character.

Inari didn't stop there, if anything he got louder. "Just looking at you pisses me off! You all talk like you know everything about us, but you know nothing this isn't your home! You don't know a thing about me! You don't know a thing about suffering or loneliness or what my life is like! You could never understand the pain of what it means to lose someone precious to you!" he shouted at them all, angry conviction backing his every syllable with venom and hate.

Naruto's eyebrow ticked at the boy's words and accusations, irritancy and anger immediately rising to the boil. A similar reaction came from Sasuke, and in a small way Hinata. What gave him the right to make such hypocritical judgements about them? The Konoha group knew nothing of the people living within Nami no Kuni, but they were at least trying to learn and enlighten themselves. But all Inari had done was watch them from a distance and form unfounded assumptions and prejudices. He honestly thought he knew everything there was to know about the shinobi just by watching them for brief periods of time. Luckily Naruto had enough self-control not to pick up the boy and beat the living tar out of him. But that same self control was only being exerted over his body, it had no authority at that time over Naruto's voice.

"So what if we don't know anything, if were ignorant. At least we are trying to learn, to better understand the world around us. We haven't shut ourselves away from the world, placed ourselves in the lead role of our own personal melodramas. We face our hardships, we don't cry like little babies who keep running home to mommy. But hey maybe I am wrong, and your just a better person than all of us. After all, it takes a really big man to sit around and cry all day...doesn't it you great big coward!!"

He shouted out the words in the exact same manner as Inari had spewed his, full of anger and conviction. Calmly picking up his plate, he entered the kitchen to deposit it in the sink before leaving the house. Abandoning any sense of caution and leapt high into the air, smashing down onto the water with a splash less thud. From there he moved to his training area...he needed to hit something.

Meanwhile, as Naruto's words cut into him with amazing accuracy, Inari bolted from the room. At times like this he needed to watch the waves, that always calmed him down and made him feel a little better, if only a little. Outside, he sat for a while before hearing footsteps on the wooden promenade. It was the silver haired guy who taught the others, Kakashi was his name.

"Can I join you…" the man asked, before sitting down besides Inari with his long legs dangling over the edge of the walkway. "…Don't take what Naruto said to heart, sometimes he has a tendency to speak without thinking first. Tazuna-san told us about your father…you know, like you Naruto too grew up without a father. In all truth, he actually never knew either of his parents, so I suppose its fair to say he had a rougher time growing up than even you had. But you know what, not once have I seen that remarkable boy cry, not a single tear. He's always trying his best to get people to acknowledge him, and he has a dream that he would risk his life for. I guess, that some time ago, he just became sick and tired of crying. He really knows what it is to be strong, just like your father. Which means, I suppose, that out of all of us strangers here Naruto understands how you feel most of all."

Inari looked at the man with wonder, surprise and disbelief in his eyes. "What?" was the only word to come from his mouth, all he did was stare.

Kakashi smiled from behind his mask, "Why else do you think he's pushing himself so hard, unless to prove a point to you. I don't know why, but Naruto just cant seem to be able to be not concerned about you" he said, before getting up and leaving Inari to his thoughts.

**The Next Day**

Having returned even more exhausted late the previous night, Naruto had immediately fell into a deep impenetrable sleep. Everyone else was wide awake and up early after sleeping quite well, leaving Naruto dozing in his colourful pyjamas. Kurenai and Kakashi decided that since Gato's presence concerning the bridge was increasing dramatically that from this point until the bridge was complete they needed to stand guard as a full group, both teams assembled to make sure everything was alright.

"Naruto pushed himself just a little too hard last night, he's reached his limit…" Kakashi explained to Tsunami as he moved with the others to leave "I don't think he'll be awake until much later on, and on top of that he probably wont be able to even move let alone get up. So please take care of him whilst we are gone."

"Of course, I'll make sure he is quite comfortable" replied Tsunami as she waved her father off. And with that the Konoha shinobi departed with their employer to spend a day at the bridge.

**Elsewhere**

Gato sat on his plush imported armchair, holding a radio close to his head. "So the ambush is ready Zabuza? Remember, no slip ups this time or its your head on a platter…understand?!" the short man yelled, trying to sound as intimidating as possible considering who he was talking too.

On the other end of the signal, Zabuza simply stood in his boat with Haku, Tsugime and the Demon Brothers beside him. He radio was on the floor and with a snarl the former member of the Kiri no Shinobigatana Shichinin Sho stamped on the device crushing it into small ground up pieces.

Gato reacted to the static with an annoyed look on his face. Looking up at his two bodyguards he nodded to them "You know what to do. Bring me the bridge builder's daughter, this debacle ends today."

**A Little Later at Tazuna's**

Naruto opened his eyes with a start, looking to the left and right. Seeing that the other beds beside his own were made and empty he immediately knew what happened. With an amazing burst of super human speed he was dressed and ready to leave with all of his equipment in place. "Today is the day we guard the bridge as a whole unit and they left without me…" he muttered, quickly thumping down the stairs and putting on his shoes before a surprised Tsunami and a silent Inari. "…I gotta go so see you later Tsunami-san."

"Your sensei said you should rest Naruto" called out Tsunami in reply, but her words fell of non-existent ears as Naruto had already left the house.

**Meanwhile at the Bridge**

"What's going on here" Tazuna gasped, as he looked upon the unconscious bodies of his work force. Kakashi and Kurenai looked at each other before nodding to affirm their suspicions. As they did so, a thick mist began to from all around them building in a highly ominous fashion until they couldn't see the landscape around them.

"Everyone get ready, they're coming" Kakashi called out, and everyone took up a position of alertness. Some looked more eager than others, but they knew what they were up against.

A sinister laughter cut through the mist, "Long time no see Kakashi, Kurenai. I see you still have those brats by your side…" Sasuke began to shake visibly "…look at that one. Poor kid, he's shaking like a leaf, ahahahahaha." And without any warning, the entire party found themselves surrounded by several Zabuza's. He had changed his clothing slightly, now instead of a bare chest he was wearing a dark sleeveless vest and his arm warmer s were no longer camouflage but orange and striped.

Looking at one of the Mizu Bunshin with confidence, Sasuke quickly and loudly exclaimed "I'm shaking from excitement" before in a flash he was moving.

**Elsewhere**

Naruto moved as quickly as he could through the trees, trying to get to the bridge in as short a time as possible. The others should be there by now, and if something were to happen then they would need him. He could see a large clearing up ahead but paid it no mind, until he was literally falling to land inside it. It was then that he noticed the puddles all around him. 'It didn't rain last night…oh crap.'

**Author Notes**

It is finished!! My dear god after months and months of attempted work I finally garnered enough stolen hours from my suddenly hectic student life to write this freakin thing. Honestly, you have no idea how tough this one was, it was a labour of pure fictional love I can tell you. Writing all of this exposition and combining it neatly with the established plot was hell, there were times when I could have screamed only I had to work in public places since I have no personal computer. But I worked and I worked, and here is the end result, the single longest chapter I have ever written. I really should stop raising the bar, because by the time I get the Chuunin exams chapters are going to be something like 40'000 words long and I just don't have that much in me. Nope, this sort of length is just about fine wouldn't you say?

First things first I would like to thank all of you who read this fic and still managed to review and write to me in the long period of absence between this chapter and the last. I managed to finish all of the updates in January and have been working on this piece ever since. Just as a warning, this could be a slight and very annoying trend for me in the coming months, as I have exams looming and essays to write and bills to pay (I am moving in with seven friends into a flat, which I am very excited about ).

About the chapter, I decided on the Mizurasen idea quite a while ago. I decided to use the idea because it fleshed out the history behind Naruto and his world, and gives him a little incentive to do what he does in the coming chapters. Plus its nice creating OC's that actually fit within a narrative. After a great deal of post concerning Haku's gender, the majority voted that the character be female. I originally wanted Haku to be female because I my mind it made sense, and trust me that she will not be paired with Sasuke as you see in other fics. Haku will be an independent character developed as she could have been had she not died in the manga. Will I follow the canon or wont I, you'll have to wait and see on that one.

Anyways, next chapter we see the shit really hit the fan as Konoha takes on Kiri in a battle that will decide the fate of a country. You all now how I treat battles, and I am really excited with this one I can tell you. It might develop into a two parter, I might not I'll just have to see how I go. Join us next time for: _The Battle for the Bridge_. See Ya.

**Shibumi** – refinement

**Shikotsumyaku** – Dead Bone Pulse

**Kubikiri Hocho** – Decapitating Knife

**Youso Shisou** – Elemental Priestly Teacher

**Kyokudo Hakkingu Kusari** – Extreme Hacking Chain

**Kyouran** - madness

**Suiton! Mizurasen no Jutsu **– Water Style! Water Spiralling technique


	11. Chapter 10: Battle for the Bridge

Chapter 10 – Battle for the Bridge

**Naruto Legacy of the Hokages**

**By Lysander45**

**Disclaimer:** I do not and never will own Naruto, no matter how much I want too. Any and all characters, jutsu and places that I create are mine; if you want to use them please ask permission.

" Speech

' Thoughts

() Jutsu translations/authors voice/usual use for brackets that I cannot be bothered to describe

Italic memories/writing/Spirit voice

Bold emphasis on word

… Pause during speech

**Chapter 10 – Battle for the Bridge**

Naruto moved as quickly as he could through the trees, trying to get to the bridge in as short a time as possible. The others should be there by now, and if something were to happen then they would need him. He could see a large clearing up ahead but paid it no mind, until he was literally falling to land inside it. It was then that he noticed the puddles all around him. 'It didn't rain last night…oh crap' he thought to himself, his mind immediately seeing through the deception.

Unable to alter his trajectory, which would bring him directly into the centre of the ominous collection of puddles, Naruto tensed his body in preparation for some serious evasion manoeuvres. The moment his foot hit the ground, the instinctual danger senses he had honed from an early age living on the streets of Konoha kicked into overdrive. From opposite sides of the clearing a familiar looking stretch of chain appeared, moving with tremendous velocity to scythe Naruto's small body in half. Reacting the second he felt earth beneath his sandals Naruto kicked upwards, somersaulting forwards and over the deadly assault.

His feet hit the ground, and in an instant the deadly chain was swinging its way back, reversing its course to catch the blonde in the back. Way ahead of it with a substitution, Naruto drew in a breath and allowed the sharp implement to cut him in two…except what hit the ground was a cleanly cut piece of wood. Attached to one of the pieces was a rapidly burning explosive tag, and with a loud bang the clearing was filled with smoke, splinters and clods of up heaved earth. Naruto meanwhile, was several feet above the scene looking down.

He had a couple of seconds before his weight laden body would begin falling, so he needed to expose with enemy and bring the fight to a more even footing. Everything happened so quickly that all of his plans of spotting the hiding places from a single dodging manoeuvre had been thrown away. Reaching back into one of his rear pouches, Naruto took a kunai and another explosive tag. Wrapping the tag around the kunai's handle, he gathered his chakra and prepared for his levelling move. 'This'll flush 'em out' he thought with a grin, before swinging his arm in an arc and releasing his projectile.

The kunai sped towards the ground, making quick speed through the air as Naruto's hands flashed through a number of seals. Ending in a familiar cross-shaped seal Naruto cried out "Kunai Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" and a moment later one explosive tagged kunai became many explosive tagged kunai. It took more chakra replicating the kunai as well as the chakra charged explosive tags, but for this move it was necessary.

The cloud of deadly metal implements hit the ground with a flurry of splashes, each landing squarely in one of the many puddles littering the area. For the first time since they began their assault on their hated foe, Gozu and Miezu were reminded at just what kind of opponent they were facing. The leaf brat was smart, and with a hasty Mizu-Shunshin they retreated to the safety of a nearby tree. Just seconds later, an even greater series of explosions ripped through the clearing, tearing up the earth and blasting apart many trees. As the smoke cleared, Naruto landed silently in the centre of the area and surveyed the damage.

The clearing he had seen before had been a circular area, a small bare spot in the middle of a large woodland. Now the tree's ringing the area had been blown over and destroyed for several metres, and the earth was pocker marked with many shallow craters. More importantly, the puddles had been evaporated by the explosions, so that advantage was lost. 'If it is them, just how did they escape? Was it that masked kid, had he been watching us even then?' Naruto thought, looking all around him for a sign of the assassin's passing.

His answer came in the form of another chain attack. The long instrument of death encircled him like a living creature, and in a shimmering instant the two shinobi were kneeling on opposite sides of the blonde. They hadn't really changed in the least, still clad in the same camouflage style Kirigakure clothing, still attacking with the same old assassination manoeuvre. There was one change, alongside their gauntlets both of the mad nuke-nin were holding one of the swords used by their former partner.

'They must be here to kill me in revenge for me killing their partner. It's expected but still a pain in the ass, I need to get to the bridge and aid the others. That means I'll have to take these guys down hard and fast, whatever they throw at me I'll have to meet them head on. Neither Kakashi-sensei nor Kurenai-san are here to back me up like before…but then again I'm not the same shinobi as before…' Naruto thought, pulling a kunai and a shurikan from their respective holsters '…I've halted this attack before…and I can do it again.'

With two rapid movements Naruto sent the weapons flying through the air, his target a peculiar looking link in the chain. Since Sasuke had broken the chain from the gauntlets the last time, they had probably had the whole system re-forged or reworked or something along those lines. But a chain was a chain and peculiar link or not he already had a tried and tested tactic against such a weapon. First the shurikan struck the link hard, carrying the chain off course towards a nearby boulder. Impacting against the stone, the shurikan was quickly followed by the thrown kunai, holding the strange link fast and binding the chain. Just like before the kunai held the shurikan fast, and just like before the two assassins faltered at the halted attack.

"Gotcha" Naruto muttered with a small smile, now all he needed to do was move and sever the chain. Unclipping the top from one of his scroll pouches, and a quick push to the bottom sent a very special scroll spinning into the air. Within seconds it was caught, opened and a small trail of blood trickled from a bitten right thumb. A poof of smoke later and Naruto was drawing the Namikaze clan katana from its scabbard. As a precaution, he also began to go through the preparatory stages of the Fuusaishuu jutsu, his hands moving through the minimal seals. He knew he would have to give a portion of his concentration to creating a decent amount of chakra laden air, but in a battle situation it was out of his hands.

In a flash he was moving again, his hand gripping the tsuka-ito in a firm yet loose fashion, his form a perfect daijodan no kamae. Channelling chakra into the muscles of his arms and shoulders, Naruto felt extra strength flow down his limbs, strength he knew he would need to break the deadly chains. He has about halfway to his target, when the strange link he had struck with his kunai did something…unexpected. The two Kiri shinobi could only laugh as they sent the pulse command down their respective chains, and in a second that lasted seemingly forever, the link split apart into two separate halves. One half was looked like a normal slightly curved dagger, whilst the other half was a double prong.

In an instant the assassins were upon their prey, the chain binding them severed with control they had perfected in their training. This was the moment they had dedicated themselves to this past week, the battle for which they had relentlessly pushed their bodies for. Drawing their respective scimitars, their unique keepsake from their deceased homicidal 'brother', they charged towards their foe. As they moved their chains both withdrew into their gauntlets with a quick whooshing clang.

Naruto's eyes darted to the left and right, trying to follow both of the rapidly moving figures. The spiralled inwards around him, before with a snarl Gozu began the attack. Striking with brutal efficiency he attacked with a slash aimed at the thigh, aiming to bring his opponent to his knees. Naruto quickly blocked with his katana, but had to make a quick roll forwards as Miezu used his distraction to launch an attack on his neck from behind. As he felt his feet touch the earth, Naruto uncurled his body and pivoted into a kasumi no kamae position. His movement was met by another attack from Gozu, a rapid crescent move meant to bisect the target from the groin up. Naruto parried with his own crescent slash, the sound of metal meeting metal ringing crisp in the morning air. The move left his arms outstretched, holding his weapon at a high angle exposing his chest.

Naruto could barely follow Miezu's movements, as the nuke-nin appeared in front of him with his gauntlet arm held forwards as if pointing at Naruto. There was a slight clicking sound, like an arrow being cocked back in a crossbow. Naruto looked at the gauntlet, his mind buzzing trying to keep up with the high speed movements of his foes and maintain its focus on the gathering air above them. They had been fast before, but now they were insane. Naruto knew of the Shunshin jutsu and other such teleportation technique's, which allowed a shinobi to cross great distances in an instant or move like lightning in battle. This was one of those instances, in the space of a week these two had managed to push themselves to a physical level where their bodies moved at a rate where they appeared to appear and disappear like the wind. Their strength as well, Naruto's arm still twinged a little from the parry he had made. The battle was becoming more dangerous with each moment.

Returning back to ominous clicking noise, Naruto quickly ascertained what it was and pushed his body to react quicker, his brain sending signals faster and faster. His back arced pulling his torso backwards to an almost horizontal angle, just in time to avoid the chain fired from within the gauntlet like a mechanised spear. His eyes wide open, Naruto could only gape as each link flew by in a fraction of a second, with enough force behind it to punch through a nearby tree behind him. His katana was in an awkward angle from the backwards shift, and with each millisecond as the chain unfurled and shot out from the gauntlet, it scraped past the blade with a whirring high pitched clanging noise akin to a buzz saw, before the long implement of death retracted as quickly as it was fired. Naruto gritted his teeth and held his arms taught, trying to keep his weapon from bucking around with the force of the attack.

'Holy shit' was the only thought his mind allowed him, as time caught up and he was dodging again, his body performing a backwards cartwheel to return to a standing position. The two on one battle had been going on for almost seven minutes, and Naruto needed a strategy. He was facing not one but two shinobi of chuunin level, both highly trained and fresh from what he could only surmise was an inhumanly intense period of training. Their timing was flawless, one attacking to distract, one attacking to capitalise on the distraction. What's more they seemed to be bringing out new trick after new trick. First the chain splitting up, then the attack with the swords, then with the ability to actually shoot the chain from within the gauntlet. He moved in a firm gedan no kamae, a posture where the katana is held level below the waist.

Naruto swallowed and pushed forwards, hoping that going on the attack would surprise the enemy enough to give him a small window of opportunity. All he had been doing for most of the fight was defend and avoid every new attack they threw at him, and if he were to help the others then he would need to step up his game. He moved on the twin who had fired the chain of death at him, whose gauntlet arm was slightly over extended leaving a small opening at the elbow. The plan was to move in tight to the enemy, twist the sword from it level position and aim for the ligaments at the elbow, rendering much of the arms strength null and void.

But the moment he moved, the other shinobi was moving as well, leaping over his companion with his arms extended backwards like wings. Landing like a crazed cat before his brother, Gozu snarled from his crouch and lunged at his prey with his clawed gauntlet. Missing with a wild swing he allowed the move to continue till his claws dug into the ground. Using the earth for purchase, he kicked backwards at the boy with both legs catching him by surprise. With the force of a mule of steroids his feet impacted at crushed into the blonde's stomach, forcing a small trickle of blood from his gaping mouth.

Naruto coughed loudly as he was propelled backwards. He tried to move but his body was sluggish and his head was light headed, the blow knocking the air from his lungs and giving him a feeling of nausea at the same time. But an attempt was all his opponents seemed to be giving him, as in a flash Miezu hopped over his brother's outstretched body and slammed Naruto in the head with a viscous backhand, smashing the boy to the floor with enough force it made him physically bounce. A hard uppercut later and Naruto's vision of the world was that of red and black and white, nothing seeming to be in focus.

His body seemed to hang in the air, his mind trying to push past the pain but failing miserably. 'What the hell was that…' he thought as he drifted in the daze '…they just get faster and faster, I can't keep up. What's more, my bodies taken some real nasty hits, I can't move as quickly as I could.' Through the haze, Naruto could make out the one with the single spiked prong on his hitai-ate moving behind him, the sword in his hand glinting ominously. The shinobi that had beaten him, the one with the two prongs on his hitai-ate, was readying the firing mechanism with his gauntlet, his arm extended in an obvious firing manoeuvre. Naruto could see the finishing attack clearly in his mind. The one darting in front of him would skewer his body with the chain attack, probably through the heart or another vital organ. And while he was held on the chain like a piece of bloody meat, the assassin to his rear would decapitate him with the sword, ending the fight and his life.

'Is this how I am going to die? Beaten by two crazy fuckers fuelled by nothing but hate and anger. Don't I have some destiny to fulfil, some reason why I've made it this far. This isn't the first time I've been near death, not by a long shot. I've been beaten, stabbed, clubbed, poisoned, hell one guy tried to set me on fire. I've nearly starved to death more times than I can count. And all of this happened before I turned ten for god's sake. How can I let this beat me, when this is only my third real shinobi fight…' Naruto thought to himself, as time seemed to slow around him in his briefly beaten state.

Though he could barely feel it, deep within his belly, held within a powerful seal, a great evil began to wake from its never ending sleep. The Kyuubi could sense the pain of its jinchuriki host, and smiled as through the young boy's eyes it watched the battle unfold. The pair attacking its host was kindred spirits to the demon, beings of strength driven by a madness tempered by bloodlust and hate. If only the gaki in whom he was entombed would take a page from these Kirigakure shinobi and cut loose, give in to the rage, then the strongest of the Kagetentei's children could flex its muscles and cause some carnage for once in a lifetime. 'Soon brat, soon you shall need my power' the fox thought, chuckling to itself before returning to the battle. It could feel Naruto's chakra begin to move, something interesting was about to happen.

'…I beat these guys partner, I beat back Zabuza, I mastered the Fuusaishuu jutsu and I can talk to ghosts! No way in hell I am going to die today, not by these lunatics, not by anyone's hands. I made a promise to otooji, a promise that I intend to keep…' Naruto thought, his vision clearing as his will began to fully exert itself. Then with the clarity of a switch being flipped in his mind, he was alive again. What was about to occur would be burnt into the minds of the Demon Brothers till the days they died. They would never know really where all the strength came from; the closest words they could think of were…survival instinct. Survival instinct and pure unfiltered skill.

Back to reality the pair closed in on their prey, entering one of the many finishing moves they had prepared to slaughter the impudent child who had dared take the light from their world. But as Miezu fired his spiked chain, and Gozu swung their brother's scimitar, all they hit was air. The stood there, frozen in space for a moment before they reacted against one another. Miezu retracted the chain with a running metallic chinking sound, pulling his gauntlet arm back and using the momentum of the heavy implement to twist his body in a half circle. Gozu, having hopped slightly to deliver the decapitation from an angle, turned his body in mid-air to land next to his twin. He ignored the feeling around his chest, the feeling that he had been pushed but his body was only just registering it.

Both held their gauntlet arms up in a defensive gesture, whilst their other arms kept the scimitars extended, ready to attack. They knew they had the boy on the defensive, and if they kept increasing the pressure and intensity sooner or later they would have the boy right where they wanted him. They had had him just then, but somehow he had managed to regain his strength and avoid their attack. But they still exulted in the knowledge that Miezu's crippling blows would have weakened him, inflicting possible internal injury and concussion that would work to their advantage.

Needless to say, what they saw in front of them was, at the very least, surprising. Naruto was standing on the opposite end of the battle made clearing, his back to the pair, his katana still held in his arms but trailing in the dirt loosely. Around him the air seemed thick like water, and it spiralled with a mind of its own. They did not know how he had evaded them, and they were in no mood to find out. Wordlessly, the pair renewed their assault, crisscrossing as they ran towards the blonde.

Naruto meanwhile was entirely ignorant of the situation. He did not know what had happened, but he could guess that his brain had finally pushed through the pain and willed his body into action. His evasion of the attacks that would have ended his life played before his eyes, and he marvelled at the spectacle. He saw himself grimacing in mid-air, reeling from the uppercut that was sending him flying. He saw the attackers move in and strike, the chain firing and the sword descending. But then his eyes opened wide, and his body contorted and twisted through the air. His body almost glowed as chakra and adrenaline flooded his limbs, and within a fraction of a second the move was made.

His body was horizontal in the air, placed directly between the trajectories of both of the attacks, the chain spear and the sword. Pushing a finger through one of the chain links, Naruto was carried briefly backwards by the speed and the force of the chains movement. His feet touched against the chest of the one behind him, the one with the sword. Bending his knee's slightly, feeling the power in his joints and muscles, Naruto kicked out against the enemy shinobi, using his opposing body mass to propel him forwards. He twisted his body to avoid the shinobi in front of him, and as his body hit the ground he rolled and somersaulted forwards, furthering the distance between himself and his opponents.

All of this had occurred so quickly, Naruto knew there was only one explanation. Within the shinobi world there existed a strange brand of jutsu labelled, teleportation jutsu, where the users body is able to move across distances in quite often the blink of an eye. But to say that they actually teleport, matter disappearing only to reappear in another location would be a lie. Because all teleportation is in the shinobi world is the implementation of high speed movement, using chakra to augment the physical capabilities of the body. Which is exactly what had occurred for Naruto, and it wasn't the first time.

'This has happened before…' Naruto thought, remembering back to his previous fight against the Kirigakure assassins. When he had fought the third shinobi, when he had killed the third shinobi, he had moved so fast the world seemed to slow down around him; his perception of time had altered itself because his body was reacting so quickly. It was only when he had performed the final blow and the effects of his movement had ceased that his perception of the world around him had returned to its original flow. Naruto did not know what he had done to grant himself such incredible speed (well for a genin it was pretty good), and he would figure it out later. Right now he had a battle to win, and what's more, his preparations for the Fuusaishuu jutsu had finished.

Looking back over his shoulder, Naruto saw his assailants rapidly approaching, and a thin smile drew across his face. He was sick and tired or being on the defensive, and with his new speed and his brand new jutsu now at his disposal, he was in the mood to kick some serious Kirigakure ass. Drawing in a breath, Naruto exhaled and whispered "Oh you guys are screwed now."

His hand tightened its hold on his clan katana, a silent prayer to his ancestors playing from his lips. Deactivating the weights on his arms, legs and finally his weighted vest, Naruto felt the familiar surge of chakra through his veins. For a moment it felt like before with the tree climbing, an overwhelming surge pushing every action forwards with uncontrollable force. But that was all it was, a moment. With the frightening efficiency of a machine Naruto's his brain had noted the increase, reigned in the excess and directed it to more pressing concerns, a complete and full enhancement of muscle strength, joint movements and thinking time. His foot touched the earth beneath it briefly; with such delicacy one might think the boy as light as a feather. And then he was gone, moving with such speed a normal person might believe he had vanished from sight completely.

The Demon Brothers were not normal people however; they were chuunin level shinobi who excelled specifically in lightning strike assassinations. Their eyes could still see Naruto, their week's intensive training sharpening their skills…but it was still not enough. They could see him in all of his fierce glory, they could witness the hardness in his eyes, but their bodies might as well have been stationary for before Naruto's new strength they were like leaves against the wind.

When he finally appeared, Naruto was ten feet away from the Demon Brothers. To their credit they had seen the movement past them and were already turning and redirecting their attention, like efficient shinobi focused on the task at hand. But Naruto had just not moved past them, and within seconds the effects of his deadly and precise assault began to show themselves. Blood spurted from slashes and cuts made on the arms, legs and chest, causing the previously unstoppable brothers to stop in their tracks, their eyes bulging in surprise and pain.

Naruto knew exactly where to direct his attacks, and with speed and strength boosted by chakra he struck at the elbows, forearms, thighs, knee's, calves, heels, back and chest, striking and slicing into tendon and muscle in an effort to render his targets unable to efficiently move. Each attack was quick, its purpose to incapacitate rather than kill performed in a complex dance of death at high speed. As for the katana itself, the only signs of that the blade had been used at all was nothing but a thin trail of blood dripping slowly from the tip of the kissaki.

'What was that?!' Gozu thought angrily within his mind, his considerably mad will now bent on keeping his body standing rather than killing the blonde gaki it should be. There were two clanging sounds a second or so later as both he and Miezu found their hands unable to grasp their dead brother Kyouran's weapons. Both of their arms hung practically useless at their sides, their whole bodies hunched on bent knees as the wounds inflicted by their adversaries' blade took their toll.

"I will not be beaten…not by YOU!!" roared Miezu, who in a supreme feat of effort threw his gauntlet arm up, pointing the palm at his prey. Pain flared through his arm and body, but he endured it to activate the firing mechanism within the gauntlet. There was a distinct click before like a spear the bladed chain fired forwards at its target. 'The fool isn't even moving…' Gozu thought with glee, feeling a sense of shared pride for his twin for his efforts. This feeling was punctured as quickly as it arouse, as with continuing annoyance and anger both twins saw their efforts thwarted.

Stabbing his katana into the floor, Naruto took control of the chakra laden air gathered by the Fuusaishuu jutsu before turning to face the incoming chain-spear. Forming his hand into a seal Naruto controlled the air like it were an extension of his body, moving it from its position above him to act as a large spiralling wall. The Demon Brothers, if their rage would allow it, would have marvelled at the sight as the air in front of Naruto seemed to take of a visible blue haze, signalling the use of some form of jutsu. The spear hit the shield, entered it, passed through it, and was fractions from hitting the confident blonde before suddenly jerking upwards and shooting into the air, stopping only when the length reached its maximum.

Maintaining his stationary position, Naruto gazed at the chains origin point and knew his next course of action. Miezu stood dumbstruck as his chain lay suspended before his eyes, held in place by the very air itself. He then felt tightness from within his gauntlet, specifically in the places where his fingers controlled the mechanisms within the metal glove through buttons and chakra. The tightness then erupted into pure force and unable to help himself the nuke-nin screamed to the heavens. Gozu looked across at his brother in disbelief, seeing the blood oozing out in rivulets from between every open and separate pieces of the gauntlet.

"I have just used my chakra laden air to cause an explosion of pressure within your glove, crippling its internal mechanisms and crushing the bones of your hand. Both of you are now unable to fight me…its over" Naruto intoned emotionlessly, fixing both of the crazed shinobi with a withering stare.

Seeing his brother's wounds, what little restraint that ever possibly existed within Gozu's shattered mind was lost and with a mad howl of bloodlust he flew towards Naruto, ignoring the blinding pain as his legs and arms were forced to move without the aid of muscle to move the bone and joints. Blood began to spurt violently from the cuts, the sudden movement causing the flow to quicken. His own gauntlet was bared; all thought of tactics forgotten Gozu intended to use the instrument to literally tear the boys head from his shoulders. Naruto seemed to do nothing but stand still as the crazed assassin bore down on him, his brother still clutching his broken appendage and screaming in pain. Leaping in the air Gozu struck with his clawed gauntlet, pouring every last bit of strength into his attack. Like with the chain spear fired at Naruto by Miezu, it was only at the last minuet that the boy finally retaliated, with spectacular effect.

Pivoting slightly on the ball of his left foot, Naruto formed a one handed release sign with his left hand and took a sharp intake of breath. The gauntlet was within three inches of smashing his face off with its fury, when it just stopped. Gozu roared in anger as he tried to move, but he felt his whole body being held firmly by an almost invisible force, the air around him bearing the same blue haze as before. He was Naruto's right hand pull into a firm fist, and with that he was in his own world of pain. There was a brief whining noise as the metal of the gauntlet put up minimal resistance, but as the air pressure around it sky rocketed the intricate killing device might as well have been made of paper. Within moments the air pressure around the gauntlet forced an implosion that crushed the device and the hand within it, eliciting another bloodcurdling scream of pain.

But Naruto was not done there; he knew people such as these needed an utter defeat to penetrate their insane minds. He did not want to kill them like he did their brother, but that did not mean he was below hurting them. Taking control of the chakra laden air around Gozu and covering the wounded Miezu in the same infused element, Naruto began his onslaught. Dashing across the battlefield, Naruto swept his arms forwards dragging the brothers with him. Both of the crazed twins could do nothing as their bodies were pulled by the air around them like limp rag dolls. The boys intention was quite clear and they knew exactly what he was about to do.

Controlling the air around the Demon Brothers bodies, Naruto started to relentlessly pound their bodies into whatever hard surface his eyes lay across with quick swinging movements of his arms, literally pulling the air in the direction he wanted it to go. He pounded the nuke-nin into the earth beneath his feet, he threw them against some rocks exposed by the previous explosions, he used their bodies to knock down trees at the edge of the battlefield, hell he even smashed them into each other several times. The bombardment lasted a good couple of minutes before Naruto finally decided they had had enough. He kept the pressure around them as a precaution, holding them in mid-air so he could deliver one final sermon to them before he moved to help his friends.

"Why do you want to kill me?" he asked, looking the shinobi straight in the eyes. He carefully pulled them in closer so he could remove the dented breathing apparatus from their faces, so they could answer clearly and breathe easier. All he received for his trouble however was two mouthfuls of blood and spit directly in the face, though to his credit Naruto remained calm and simply wiped the mix from his face with his sleeve.

"I'll ask you again, why do you want to kill me?" Naruto repeated once more, keeping his gaze firmly placed on the pair. He had a slight inclination as to what their answer would be, but he needed to hear it from their lips first.

"You killed our brother…" the one with the single prong began "…you took everything from us" the one with two prongs finished. They were twins all right, the connection between them stretching into thought as well as deed.

Gozu continued, his anger towards the boy becoming so strong that, for a moment, the madness that had gripped his mind for almost two decades receded and he was able to think and answer clearly. He did not understand the feeling, but he was sure Meizu felt it was well. "Years ago…" he began, his tone of voice sounding more mature and calmer than before "…we watched our father murder our mother. He killed her in cold blood; it was easy for him because he had killed before. Our lives are so fragile, they can end so easily, and when we saw the light in our mothers eyes go out…well, we went mad. We killed our father, we strangled him and it felt so good because we were getting revenge for our mother, it is what she would have wanted. And we kept on killing as starving orphans, moving from town to town leaving strangled corpses in our wake. Sometimes we killed to survive, kill or be killed, but then again sometimes we killed for fun…"

Naruto's eyes widened as he began to picture the mans story. He saw their mother die; he saw what it did to them. They were both orphans, like he was, except they allowed the loneliness and pain to overwhelm them. Meizu continued the story from his brothers pause "…Our names began to proceed us…Nakiwarai Gozu and Nakiwarai Meizu, the twin Demon brothers whom everyone should fear and be afraid of. We were all alone in the bitter cold world…and then oniisan came, he saved us from an angry chuunin and in doing so saved us from ourselves. We were lost in our own bloody minds, but he taught us purpose. He knew the rage that drove us; he told us he had felt it since the moment he was born when he drew blood instead of milk from his mother's breast. We followed him, and as we did we learnt that shinobi were allowed to kill others for their village, they were paid to do it. With our brother we joined the shinobi academy of Kirigakure, and from there our shinobi careers advanced. We graduated, became genin and after that chuunin, our specialty was assassination missions with our chain. Somewhere during that period we caught the eye of Momochi Zabuza, a member of the Kiri no Shinobigatana Shichinin Sho…"

The story returned to Gozu, who spat out some blood from his mouth into the earth below. "…Zabuza-sama saw our talents for murder and asked if we join him in his coup detat. Oniisan answered for us and from there we became exiles from the village. It wasn't so bad for Meizu and I, we had been orphans from childhood and we understood what it was to have people despise you, so exile was easy for us. We still had oniisan, who kept us contained and gave us purpose. But then you took him from us, you cut off his head and in doing so ended any hope we had for some from of life. We trained relentlessly so we would be strong enough to kill you, but it seems we were not strong enough. And now you stand before us, gloating in your victory asking us why we wanted to kill you! I want to rip out your throat with my teeth, I want to feel your blood against my skin you impudent little gaki. I don't care how long it take us, but we shall heal and we shall come after you again. Unless you kill us that is, unless you kill us like you killed our brother!!"

Naruto listened to the mans rant, and though his mouth could move his body was still held tight within the power of the Fuusaishuu. It took a great deal of willpower keeping the jutsu maintained, and his stamina was wearing thin so Naruto knew he had to wrap things up quickly. He had listened to their story, he understood the pain that drove them, and he knew the words that would release their minds from their chains of madness.

"Your mother would be ashamed of you."

The words echoed across the clearing, ringing several times in the ears of the Demon brothers. Like a single flame in the darkness, Naruto's words started a chain of thought within the brothers minds that he knew would bring them into the light. "You told me that it was the sight of your mother's dead body, drowned in its own blood that drove you to madness. Your grief broke your young minds and turned you both into psychotic killers, and moments ago you threatened to 'rip out my throat with your teeth'. Isn't that how your mother died? Would she be proud of you both now? Would she be proud of what you have done in her name? Who's to say that the people you have killed over the years didn't have family of their own. You took their loved ones from them, just like your father took your mother from you…"

Naruto continued his rant "…And do you know something else; I never intended to kill your 'brother'. I stayed awake for most of the night after that event hating myself for what I did, asking myself why I killed him. But then I was told something by my sensei that set things right in my mind. Shinobi are warriors, they exist by fighting. What happened was part of a long tradition of deaths in combat stretching beyond all of us for centuries, and we should just accept that. Your brother did, I saw the look in his eyes before my katana cut off his head. He accepted death, he acknowledged me as his killer. He was the first life I have ever taken, and I have to live with that memory till the day I die. So get over your revenge, and move on. Try living your lives how your mother would have wanted you to, don't dedicate yourselves to killing in her name."

And with that, he ended his speech and wordlessly guided the pair of silent men to a nearby tree that had been left undamaged by the battle. Taking out some wire from within one of his pouches, Naruto tightly bound both of the Demon brothers on opposite sides of the tree, making sure to tie them down in a way that made escape impossible. But then again, since they both had crushed hands they probably wouldn't be getting that far away anyway. After he was done, Naruto turned and quickly departed the clearing, collecting his katana as he went. 'I'll head back to town and make sure Inari and Tsunami are okay. If the shit is really about to hit the fan, then I need to be sure they wont be caught in the crossfire' he thought, before leaping into the tree's and disappearing from sight.

Silence dominated the clearing for a long time after Naruto had left. Gozu and Meizu were deep in thought, their alleviated mental state holding beyond what they had believed to be possible. "Gozu…" Meizu said aloud "…do you really think okaasan would be ashamed of us?" Despite his age, the man surprisingly sounded very child-like as he asked his question.

"I don't know Meizu, I just don't know" Gozu replied.

Meizu hummed before piping up again "Gozu…you remember when we met oniisan, there was that chuunin from Kirigakure. He wanted to kill us, because we killed his little brother. Do you remember him?"

"Yeah Meizu, I remember him" Gozu replied yet again.

"Gozu…I think we did a bad thing that day. We killed that mans little brother, the same way that kid killed our brother. But we didn't care about it, did we Gozu." Meizu spoke for the third time.

"No, we didn't Meizu" Gozu replied again for a third time.

"Gozu…I think okaasan would be ashamed of us. All our lives we just kept killing, because it made the pain in our heads go away. That was wrong Gozu that was wrong."

"Yeah Meizu, it was wrong. And I think I know just how we can make it up to okaasan and make her proud of us again."

"How's that Gozu?" Meizu asked almost innocently.

"All those years ago when we met oniisan, we were lost. We thought he was helping us, but all he was really doing was using us, making us kill when we should have been doing good things like okaasan would have wanted. Meizu, I think we need to be good from now on, just like that kid said. We have to accept that we killed all those people, and carry it as our burden until we feel that we have truly repented for what we did. Then when we die, we can go to heaven with okaasan, instead of hell with oyagi" Gozu said, a sense of hope filling his voice.

There was a long pause before Meizu finally asked "Hey Gozu, what was that kids name again?"

"Uzumaki Naruto" Gozu replied, getting immediately where Meizu was heading with his train of thought.

"Naruto-niisama" the pair intoned, childlike smiles adorning their faces for the first time in, quite literally, years.

**Meanwhile**

Sasuke smirked as he finished his attack, his two kunai held poised within his outstretched arms. On Kakashi-sensei's mark he had quickly dispatched the group of mizu bunshin that had surrounded the group, and now only puddles of water remained. It had only taken him three seconds to eliminate all of the clones, and he revelled in the speed his training had given him. Undergoing the chakra splitting version of the Tree Climbing exercise had increased his stamina and physical strength a great deal, as had fighting Kiba and Akamaru under Kakashi's instruction and supervision. What's more he knew that all of the clones were clones, he could feel it, see the traces as chakra with his eyes. It was faint, like an echo of something more, but it was all he needed. Now Sasuke knew his sharingan was close to awakening, all he needed was one more fight.

A dark laugh echoed across the bridge as three figures materialised into view, Zabuza, the masked hunter-nin from the last battle, and a strange new girl with white hair and two red dots above her eyes. Kakashi and Kurenai saw the dots and their eyes widened in a moment of panic. "Kakashi is she the…" Kurenai began, "…I had hoped not" the lanky ninja replied.

"Hmmm, to see through the mizu bunshin…the gaki has grown. It would appear we have ourselves a rival, eh Haku…Tsugime" Zabuza said with almost an air of glee in his voice.

"It does indeed" mused Haku from behind her mask. She understood the unspoken command immediately, the Uchiha was her fight, and she had to keep him from interfering. Tsugime would distract the other genin as Zabuza took on the jounin; no survivors were to be left.

"So Naruto was right about these guys…" Kiba growled, his hand having already grabbed a kunai and two soldier pills for Akamaru and himself. The puppy was growling at the newcomers, sniffing in their scent to discern their chakra and strength levels. He was surprised to discover that both were female, even the one who did not show her face and that they both had very strong chakra indicating some form of bloodline trait. Akamaru communicated his findings to his master through some quick barking noises and whimpers, which Kiba understood as easy as if he were talking to a human. "…Eh, what's that Akamaru…really? Okay, got it" the Inuzuka replied, formulating a new strategy silently in his head. Though he was not as subtle as Shino or as quick as Naruto, Kiba knew how to fight and how to strategise.

He began to move forwards but was stopped by Sasuke, who held up his arm and said "Leave this guy to me. Guys like this one always piss me off, with their false appearances and their damned acting'" his eyes never leaving the masked figure.

"Even though the mizu bunshin have only one tenth of the strength of the original this boy was able to take them down without any effort what so over…impressive" Tsugime intoned, a look of disappointment on her face. She knew what was coming next, Haku would fight the boy. She had wanted to battle with the blonde, but since the Demon Brothers had set their sights on him any confrontation seemed unlikely, so the second strongest genin would have done for her. Still, there was an overt chance that the boy might survive; with his ever growing skills and power he had it within him the capacity to defeat the brothers. Perhaps then he might give her a challenge, but for now she would fight the other genin. The one with the dog, and the bug user…they would be her targets this day.

"We have gained the first advantage. Go!" Zabuza barked, and in an instant Haku had disappeared and Tsugime was sprinting towards the group at a fast pace, two blade-like bones growing from the palms of her hands. Sasuke was the first to react, lashing out with his kunai to parry a sudden strike from a sharp senbon needle aimed at his shoulder. The battle for the bridge, and indeed the nation itself, was on.

**Elsewhere**

"Inari, come and help me with the dishes" Tsunami called out to her young son, hearing his reply over the sound of her contented humming. It was nice to have guests in her house, but peace was something to be enjoyed as well. Unfortunately however, today Tsunami would find her peace shattered in a very brutal way. Her reverie was broken by the sudden sound of wood being slashed through by metal, and turning to see the cause of the noise she gasped in fear as her door and some of the surrounding wall was reduced to chunks of fallen wood by the katana of a very ill tempered bare-chested man. His partner, who was clothed in a padded coat, was the first to speak.

"Are you Tazuna's daughter? Sorry, but your coming with us." The words chilled her to the bone; something must be happening on the bridge, was her father alright. These thoughts were quickly overtaken by a more maternal kind as she saw her some covering under the table. Unable to help herself Tsunami cried out "Run Inari!" which did little more than draw attention to her some.

The bare-chested swordsmen split the table in two so quickly it was like he had never moved, and on spying the boy grabbed him by the scruff of his neck and threw him across the room. "We only needed one hostage right?" he asked his ally, who nodded in response. Grinning, the man began to advance upon Inari, lifting his sheathed katana upwards as he started to draw it from its scabbard.

"Wait…" Tsunami cried out, guessing the mans intention and grapping his attention "…if you so much as touch that child again, I'll bite off my tongue and drown in my own blood. Then you won't have a single hostage!"

The pair looked at each other before the crazier one sighed dejectedly and stopped unsheathing his sword, returning it to its original place. "Thank your mom kid" the other chided, motioning to his comrade who quickly picked up Tsunami and slung her over his shoulder. "Man, I haven't cut anything today and its driving me crazy" he whined.

"Skip it, you can cut up a hog or something once this whole thing is over and done with" his ally cursed, leaving the house empty save for Inari. The boy had tears in his eyes, and within his head sad thoughts were spiralling around. 'I'm…I'm sorry mom…I wasn't strong enough to protect you. I'm…so afraid…I don't want to die' he thought, before a voice suddenly broke out through the sadness.

Coward, he heard, and in his minds eye Inari could picture Naruto shouting at him from that night, calling him a coward and a weakling who assumed too much. Other faces joined him, Naruto's silver haired sensei telling the story of Naruto and how he was born alone and yet he never shed a tear. His mother smiling down at him, calling after her big strong boy. His father looking at him with pride, telling him those amazing words 'If it's truly precious, protect it with these two hands, even if it cost you your life.'

These images played over and over in Inari's head, and he began to wonder 'They're all so incredible, so cool, so strong. Could I be strong like them…Dad?' and in an instant his mind was made up. He ran straight outside, crying after the trio who had only reached the end of the promenade. "Leave my mom alone or you'll be sorry" he shouted, before running at the samurai screaming some form of a battle cry.

"Stupid dead kid" was all the one wearing the coat said, before the pair clicked open their katana and moved to intercept and kill the child. The bare-chested one who was carrying Tsunami quickly dumped her on the wooden planks beneath them, and as she saw the murderers move in on her son Tsunami screamed his name in panic, missing completely the slight breeze past her face.

The samurai duo slashed quickly with their blades before returning them to their scabbards. For a moment they smiled, but the smiles disappeared quickly from their faces as they watched the pieces of the dismembered boy turn to chunks of wood, signalling a kawarimi jutsu. "Sorry Inari for taking so long…but isn't it the job of a hero to save the day at the last minute?" Naruto asked, grinning as he placed the amazed boy down beside his mother.

"Naruto?" Inari said aloud, staring at the boy as the sun shone behind him giving him a strangely heroic silhouette. "Tch, its one of the loser shinobi Tazuna hired…get him" came the voice of the cooler samurai thug, and once more the pair dashed towards their target clicking open their katana's.

Naruto grinned before disappearing from everyone's sight for a split second. Inari marvelled at his speed, wondering where he was until he appeared in front of the surprised samurai with his fists extended. In a double forwards punch, keeping his arms straight and horizontal in a basic and brutal Wing Chun strike, Naruto hammered the pair in the stomach knocking the wind resoundly out of their lungs. As they gasped, he switched styles and pivoted on his heel, spinning around and reaching up behind himself to grab their heads from the side. Using their own forwards momentum, he directed their movement towards one another and smashed their heads against each other, using his knowledge of Kyuuten Kaihousho and Jyuken to redirect the enemies' movements to his advantage. He stood satisfied as the pair knocked each other out, before returning to Inari and Tsunami's side.

"Are you guys alright?" he asked, lifting Tsunami to her feet. For the first time Inari and his mother noticed the wounds on Naruto's body, the bruises on his face and the cuts and lacerations. "Your hurt…quickly come inside and I can dress the bleeding" Tsunami told him, pulling on Naruto's arm as her maternal instincts took over. When he found herself stopping abruptly, she noticed that the boy she was holding onto wasn't moving.

"Sorry, but I gotta go help the others. I got into a fight after I left, and when I won I knew you guys would be targeted so I returned…just in time it seems…" Naruto replied, raising a hand to stop any arguments from Tsunami "…its fine, I've had worse in the past…" he turned to look at Inari and ruffled his hair "…sorry about the other day, I was out of line. Your not a coward…you're a really strong kid."

On hearing those words, Inari looked at Naruto and felt tears coming down his face. Quickly wiping the tears from his face he whined "Dammit, I promised myself I wasn't going to cry anymore…now your gonna make fun of me aren't you."

"What are you talking about?" Naruto asked "…it's okay to cry when you're happy" he finished with a big foxy grin, marred slightly by a swollen bruise on his chin. Inari stopped crying and nodded, and helped Naruto tie up the unconscious samurai. About to head off for the bridge once more, Naruto turned to look back at Inari and a worried Tsunami. "I can trust you to take care of things here cant I. Look after your mom Inari" he said, before launching off the promenade onto the lake, where he set about sprinting towards the bridge.

**Back at the Bridge**

As Sasuke and Haku traded attacks at blinding speed, the rest of the Konoha group quickly formed up to deal with the other threats. Kakashi quickly barked out the orders "Kiba, Shino, intercept the other girl. Hinata, back up Sasuke, Sakura guard Tazuna, Kurenai with me" he said, and with that everyone began their counter-movements. Shino and Kiba quickly halted Tsugime's movements with concentrated shurikan fire and kikiachu barrages. The lithe Kaguya progeny dodged each attack effortlessly, landing after a particular jump on the walled edge of the bridge.

"Zabuza-sama, I shall take my fight to the earth road at the foot of the bridge to give Haku-san and yourself more room to move" she said in her usual base tone, earning a nod from Zabuza. With those words said she took a running jump over her mentors head and disappeared into the fog.

Kiba and Shino looked to their own sensei for confirmation of their next course of action, the desire to follow their opponent evident on their faces. Mirroring Zabuza, Kurenai wordlessly nodded her agreement, before turning to her fellow jounin and saying "Kakashi, shall we?"

As Shino and Kiba began to follow the same course as Tsugime, their path was set to directly intersect with Zabuza, who stared at the boys with murder in his eyes. His attention was quickly overtaken by a slight shiver down his spine. He looked down at his feet as the surface of the bridge turned into a liquid puddle, pulling at his body like quicksand. 'A genjutsu? How…boring' he thought, and with a sharp exhale he pulsed out from his body a powerful wave of chakra to disrupt the illusion. As the ground returned to its solid and wholly real state, Zabuza was shocked to see Kakashi heading towards him with a kunai. Laughing, Zabuza reached behind his shoulder and grasped the hilt of his Kubikiri Hocho.

Meanwhile, the battle between Haku and Sasuke was continuing. The pair was in a stalemate, their weapons grinding against each other as they both pushed for supremacy. "I don't want to have to kill you…but you just won't back down will you?" Haku asked from behind her mask.

"Is that a trick question?" Sasuke returned his voice full of confidence and swagger. His sharingan was so close now; fighting at this speed was just the thing he needed to fully awaken it.

"I see…" Haku said with an air of disappointment in her voice "…you may be able to keep up with me this time, but the next will be on a whole new level. On top of that, I have two advantages over you."

"Two advantages?" Sasuke asked incredulously, how this shinobi could make such a boast when they were clearly in a deadlock was beyond him.

"Yes, two advantages. First of all, notice the water scattered all around our feet. Second, I have one of your arms occupied blocking my senbon. Now, you will only be able to run from my attacks…" And with that said, Haku raised her remaining free arm and began to go through a series of one handed, earning a look of alarm from Sasuke. From beneath her mask Haku intoned her jutsu's name "…Hijutsu! Sensatsu Suisho" before stomping the ground with her foot.

At her command the water around the pair leapt up with a life of its own, collecting and reforming into a thousand long needles of fluid. Completely surrounded Sasuke looked at his opponent in annoyance before closing his eyes. 'Remember the training, focus the chakra into the legs…and the body' he thought, bringing up his own free hand to focus his chakra. He felt his legs throb slightly as the chakra gathered in his muscles increasing their strength, and within his abdomen he felt his inner fire's ignite. Hanging in the air for a moment the water needles glistened in the morning light, before with a thousand small whining noises they converged upon the Uchiha's location. They collided together with a great smashing bang, and all of the Konoha shinobi present feared the worst.

Haku quickly regained her footing after leaping backwards to avoid her own attack, and on looking into the water saw something very wrong. 'He's gone!' she thought, before a burst of chakra above her alerted her to a jutsu in progress. "Katon! Gokakyu no jutsu" was all she heard before a torrent of fire forced her to dodge backwards to avoid getting roasted.

"You're so slow it's pathetic…" she heard from behind her "…from now on…you will only be able to run from MY attacks" Sasuke said with a smile, before beginning his own assault. Swinging at Haku with his kunai bearing right arm, Sasuke found his move blocked by his opponents left arm. He followed this attack by throwing his kunai straight for the centre of the mask with a casual flick, causing the masked shinobi to duck in order to dodge the projectile. This all played in Sasuke's hands however, as with a wicked curve his left foot slammed into his enemies face, sending the assailant flying backwards.

Stopping to observe the exchange, the jounin's all watched with their own degrees of surprise. "Haku lost in a battle of speed?!" Zabuza remarked, shocked that his protégé was so easily forced back. Kakashi smiled 'As expected from this year's number one rookie' but the smile didn't last as Zabuza began to laugh once again.

"Haku, you realise that at this rate we may be driven back" the nuke-nin said with a cruel chuckle. These words acted as another silent command for Haku to step up her game lest she be shown up by her comrades.

Chakra began to rise from Haku's body as she activated her kekkai genkai by instinct, her mind taking the wind element chakra and the water element chakra she possessed, mixing it into a new element for her to command, hyoton the ice element. "Yes, we can't have that" she intoned coldly, placing her hands together in the focusing seal for her unique jutsu.

Hinata took the pause as a signal to run up behind Sasuke, but the moment she got within a foot of the Uchiha she noticed something wrong. 'The air is so cold' she thought, and as if to respond to her feelings she and Sasuke watched in panic as the air around them froze. The ice grew and twisted until they were surrounded by twenty one pristine ice mirrors, the name of the technique confirmed when their opponent said aloud "Hijutsu! Makyo Hyo Sho!"

Kakashi and Kurenai stared at the strange technique in alarm, Kakashi being the most alarmed when he noticed something very ominous, his sharingan could not identify the jutsu. To complete the jutsu, Haku walked towards the closest mirror and in a bizarre shifting of perspectives actually merged with the mirror. Her image reflected itself from one mirror to the next, until Sasuke and Hinata found themselves surrounded by gazing images of their foe. Both of the Konoha jounin could sense that this new technique was bad news and forgetting their own fight raced towards the mirrors to aid their genin. But their fight was quickly reinstated as Zabuza appeared between them and the mirrors. "Remember, your fight is with me…" Zabuza said with menace "…it's useless anyway. Against that technique, those brats are finished."

Sasuke and Hinata stood there within the prison of mirrors, their bodies tense in readiness for an attack. Hinata had her Byakugan on full alert, her almost perfect field of vision trained on each of the twenty one mirrors. 'He could attack from any direction…if I knew the Kaiten this would be much easier, but I haven't mastered the principles yet even with Naruto-kun's help. It seems I shall have to try that technique instead.'

Kurenai gazed at Hinata through the mirrors, worry for her student gripping her heart. But her eyes then caught a glimpse of something she had always known Hinata to have, even when she had never shown it, iron resolve. She had noticed the changes in Hinata as the week had progressed, especially after Naruto had requested that he and Hinata train separately from the group. After witnessing the boy's potential and skill first hand, Kurenai had secretly been delighted at the prospect. As Hinata's sensei she was charged with seeing that Hinata develop into a strong and capable shinobi, and Kurenai knew that if Hinata trained with Naruto then the boys remarkable strength would inevitably rub off and inspire her young charge. Her thoughts were interrupted as she was forced to dodge another onslaught from Zabuza's massive sword.

Within the cage of ice mirrors, Sasuke and Hinata stood back to back waiting for their adversary to make a move. 'What are these mirrors' Sasuke thought, his body tensing when from all around him he heard the masked boys voice. "Well, shall I begin? Its time I show you my real speed."

Sasuke and Hinata watched as each image held up a single senbon needle. Their bodies taught, ready to move at a milliseconds notice, Sasuke and Hinata believed they were prepared for whatever attack might be coming their way. A second later they both discovered cuts on their shoulders, the sudden sharp pain causing them to both wince. Then, as if the proverbial flood gates had been opened, the pair were engulfed in a torrent of pain and steel as hundreds of lightning fast attacks engulfed them. Blood splattered from each new cut, completely un-fatal but still incredible painful, like having a thousand paper cuts all over your body. Unable to help themselves, Sasuke and Hinata opened their mouths and screamed in pain.

"Sasuke! Hinata!" Kakashi shouted out on hearing his student's cries of anguish. Ducking under another horizontal slash from Zabuza, he tried to turn to go aid the genin, confident in Kurenai's abilities enough to leave her. He found himself, however, facing Zabuza who cackled maniacally "It's useless Kakashi. The moment either of you get by me you leave your ally disadvantaged and the bridge builder open to attack!"

Meanwhile Sakura and Tazuna watched as the battle unfolded, Sakura becoming increasingly distressed at seeing her team mates and sensei get beaten back. It became too much for her when she had to watch Sasuke and Hinata get engulfed in the storm of senbon needles, and quietly she turned to Tazuna "Tazuna-san…I'm very sorry, but I'm going to have to leave you unguarded for a moment."

The old man looked at the pink haired kunoichi for a moment, before smiling and replying "Do what you have to do Sakura." Sakura nodded before moving for the cage of mirrors, taking a running jump and throwing two kunai into the cage. "Sasuke, Hinata CATCH!" she yelled, hoping her projectiles might aid the pair either as additional weapons or as distractions for their attacker. Her efforts proved futile however, as with an apparent ease the masked shinobi deflected one of the kunai with a senbon needle before catching the other with an outstretched hand. But in doing this, Haku's attention was diverted just enough for a single kunai to strike her hard in the face/mask.

Snapping her face back the shurikan caught Haku off guard, coming seemingly from nowhere. The force was just enough to create a break in focus and with a meaty thud fell from her mirror and smacked into the bridge beneath. Groggily she pushed herself upwards, shaking off the lights dancing in her field of vision. She looked at the shurikan and scanned the horizon looking for its origin point, before hearing a voice from within the mirrors. "Never…take your eyes of a Hyuga. All who do…live to regret it!"

It was Hinata, and outstretched arm and blazing Byakugan confirming it had been her who had thrown the kunai. Blood dripped from numerous cuts on her outstretched arm, and her shoulder had two senbon imbedded within its flesh, but it held strong. Smiling, Hinata crouched down low and placed her hands together in a bridge. "Sasuke-san, now!" she said, and with that their bid to break the technique began. They needed to get one person outside, and Sasuke would have to be that person. Placing a foot onto Hinata's hand bridge, the pair grunted as Sasuke pushed down and Hinata pushed up. Sasuke was launched into the air as the petite Hyuga heiress put all of her strength into sending her comrade upwards.

As the jump reached its peak near the top the cage of mirrors, Sasuke twisted his body so he could kick off from one of the mirrors. With a kick he sent himself on a forty five degree descent, aiming for a crack in the cage's wall large enough for him to pass through. He was almost free, but his bid was halted by another stream of senbon directed squarely at him. Unable to dodge in mid-air, Sasuke tried to perform a kawarimi to give him a moment more to escape, but the attacks moved with such speed and accuracy that he had just enough time to put his hands together. Hitting the nearest mirror Sasuke cried out as his body was peppered with senbon needles. He hit the floor and tired to get up, but his limbs were beginning to feel numb as the numerous tiny cuts slowly sapped his strength.

"That was almost too close, wouldn't you say?" chided Haku, whose image was once again splayed all about the various mirrors surrounding Sasuke and Hinata. Gritting his teeth Sasuke forced his body to roll forwards to Hinata's position and stand up, picking up a discarded kunai weakly for defence. The masked figures in the mirrors readied another attack, and Sasuke looked on watching for any signs of movement. His eyebrow ticked as he saw a slight flicker, and so the barrage began.

Both genin managed a little better this time, receiving roughly eighty percent of the attack directed towards them. Hinata was beginning to get the timing correctly, with her Byakugan she noticed a brief flicker of chakra from one of the mirrors, followed by a quick flash of movement from the mirror which travelled from one mirror to another opposing mirror. 'That's it, it's the reflections…' Hinata thought, her mind putting the pieces together to get a clear idea of the techniques power. '…Using the reflections of the mirror the shinobi is able to travel at something close to the speed of light from one mirror to another, launching an attack as he goes. That's why Sasuke and I are unable to predict the attacks, they are moving too fast.'

As Hinata was thinking the opponent over, Sasuke decided to try a brute force approach on the mirrors themselves. Flashing through familiar seals he breathed in deep and exhaled. "Katon! Gokakyu no Jutsu" he shouted, exhaling a great gout of fire towards the nearest mirror. The fire blazed against the ice, burning for a couple of seconds before fizzling out from lack of fuel and heat.

"You cant melt this ice with that level of fire" Haku said again, condescendingly as if she were talking to a small child, the reflections preparing another attack. This time Hinata was more ready, reacting nimbly with her kunai to repel more of the senbon than she had previously. She watched for the fast moving image with her Byakugan, knowing that when it appeared an attack was most likely. As she moved, she began to build up the a small pool of chakra within her core like Naruto had taught her to do. It was something taught to them at the Academy, but Naruto refined on the basics and used a method that was faster than the Academy version.

Sasuke too was beginning to notice the blur of movement between attacks. He held his arms up to defend and tried following the blur with his eyes, the image becoming sharper as he strained against the storm. After the latest barrage ceased, Hinata was surrounded by a smattering of fallen senbon needles whilst Sasuke picked some of the embedded needles from his body. "My movements are too fast to follow with your eyes. Don't waste your energy. You know, this jutsu uses my reflection to transport me at high speed…from my point of view its like your moving in slow motion" Haku said again.

'However, it seems that the Hyuga is starting to pick up my movements with her Byakugan. The longer this battle goes on the easier it shall be for her to detect my movements with her kekkai genkai. Fitting, a battle of bloodlines as it were' Haku thought, readying another assault. Sasuke and Hinata braced themselves before being engulfed in another barrage of senbon needles, as from outside the others watched in horror (and in one case amusement).

"That technique…it's a kekkai genkai isn't it Zabuza. A deep blood lineage, superior genealogy passing down jutsu from times long since past…a jutsu that's apparently impossible to defeat." Kakashi intoned, facing down his adversary with his sharingan.

Zabuza chuckled "Correct. Nobody has survived that jutsu."

Sasuke growled beneath his breath. "Nobody has survived this jutsu, ha! Guess I'll have to be the first then…" he said, steadying his footing as he recovered from the attacks. "…I cannot, no I will not die here today, I have too much left to do with my life. I have a goal to achieve, a dream, a person to kill, so there is no way I am dying here today. Not by this punks hand nor anybody else's!"

Haku narrowed her eyes from behind her scratched mask. A memory of her past unwillingly burst through the surface of her mind, the memory of when she first met Zabuza. It was a cold day, one of many that never seemed to cease within Mizu no Kuni.

**Flashback**

_A young Haku furrowed in the garbage behind a local deli, looking for any scrap that might be salvageable for her to eat. Hitting the jackpot she found a half eaten leg of meat that had been thrown away after getting dirty, but that didn't bother this orphan. On biting into the meat, she heard a growling sound. Turning around, she found herself cornered by a large female dog that was looking at the meat with its own hunger. Glaring back at the animal, Haku punched it hard causing it to yelp. On that sound the dog was suddenly surrounded by several angry puppies who were all growling in their juvenile ways. Haku sighed and threw the leg of meat at the group. "Fine take it!" she shouted before running away._

_She later collapsed on a bridge somewhere, and it was on that bridge that she first met Zabuza. He was still a jounin, and on passing he gazed down at the hungry orphan with some measure of disdain. "He he, what an unfortunate child. A brat like you is not wanted by anyone. You will die with neither freedom nor dreams" Zabuza said, crouching down low to get a better look at the child. He was caught by surprise when the child looked him unflinchingly in the eyes and said "You have the same eyes as me."_

**End Flashback**

"Becoming a true shinobi is difficult for me…" Haku began, the Konoha genin eying the mirrors around them with suspicion. "…If possible I don't want to have to kill you…and I hope the feeling goes vice versa. But if you both persist in opposing me and my master, I shall destroy my kind heart with a blade and become a true shinobi. This bridge represents the dreams of a nation…so it is fitting that here our dreams and wishes clash against one another for supremacy. We fight to connect with our dreams, you for your dreams and myself for my own. Please do not hate me…I fight to protect someone precious to me. To work for that person, to fight for that person, to make that persons dreams come true. That is my dream. And for that dream, I can become a true shinobi…and kill you."

At these words Zabuza's almost continuous dark chuckling grew louder. "Even if those brats somehow manage to defeat that technique, they will never defeat Haku. They do not possess the strength to destroy their hearts and kill another person; they don't know the true glorious pain of being a shinobi like Haku or Tsugime do. A real shinobi cant be created in a peaceful village like yours, because they never gain the most important thing of all…the experience of killing."

On hearing those words Hinata had a flash back to several days ago, when Naruto had stood between her and that mad assassin. Naruto had killed a man to protect her that much she understood, and she knew that his death would be something that he would bear for years to come. Sasuke meanwhile was getting angry, that guy believes he doesn't have the buts to bury his heart and kill another human being. Oh he is so wrong about him, he buried his heart years ago the day his clan was murdered…by Itachi. As he thought this, Zabuza once more charged the Konoha jounin and their battle raged on.

Kakashi had unveiled his sharingan early on, but had kept his eyelid shut over the eye for a great deal of the fight, only opening it on occasions to try to force an opening or dodge a particularly dangerous sword strike. So far Zabuza was solely using his kenjutsu, but that might change quickly. He was about to open his eye again, when from out of nowhere he saw a kunai coming at speed directly for his sharingan eye. It was too late to dodge, so Kakashi quickly brought up his hands to defend. The kunai embedded itself in his hand, and with his normal eye Kakashi glared at an leering Zabuza.

"Considering the fact that you think its all I ever use…you seem to be afraid of my sharingan Zabuza" Kakashi taunted, pushing the pain from his hand out of his mind with practiced ease and experience.

"He he, a shinobi's supreme technique is not something that should be flaunted to opponents over and over again" Zabuza retorted.

"You should feel honoured, you're the only person to have seen it twice…but there will not be a third time!" Kakashi replied. Seeing that one of Zabuza's arms was occupied, Kurenai tried to take advantage, stabbing forwards with her own kunai knife. All Zabuza did was shift his giant sword, the Kubikiri Hocho, into a defensive position with one arm, pushing the feeble kunai away with ease. His body never shifted position, not an inch.

"You may defeat me…perhaps…but there is no way either of you can defeat Haku or Tsugime. Ever since they were children I taught them all different kinds of fighting skills, eliminating every weakness in their weak little bodies. In Tsugime's case most of the work had already been done for me, but I polished that diamond easily enough. They both faced terrible adversity under my wing, but they succeeded again and again. They became fighting machines, without heart nor fear of death, fighting machines known as shinobi. On top of that, they both possess unique jutsu, the terrible gifts bestowed by their grim kekkai genkai. I gained two high quality tools in those two, oh yes, far superior to the scrap that you both have following you around. Maybe that blonde shows some promise, but then again, his fate is no doubt that of death. Two of my tools were very…eager to track him down…"

On hearing those words, the Konoha group looked at Zabuza in shock. Had something happened to Naruto, was he still alive? But then remembering who they were thinking about, their minds fell at ease. "There's nothing as boring as a mans bragging. You think Naruto will just roll over and die? You are so wrong. Lets take things up a notch!" Kakashi replied to Zabuza's taunting, confidence in his pupil evident in his words, his sharingan flashing bright.

Laughing again, Zabuza pulled out his kunai and jumped backwards to avoid any possible attacks. Backing further way down the bridge, Kakashi and Kurenai following him warily. "Before we 'take things up a notch' permit me one last moment of bragging. I think I'll use your own words for this one Kakashi. 'The same jutsu will not work twice against me' I think those were the words. I have already seen through the trivial powers of the supposedly mighty doujutsu. Throughout our last battle there was more to my performance than simply playing the punching bag for you and those pathetic genin of yours. I had Haku hide in the background and examine every aspect of the battle. Possessing great intelligence as well as skill, Haku is able to see a technique once and come up with some way of defeating it. Ninpo! Kirigakure no Jutsu"

With the name of his technique uttered for all to hear, Zabuza gradually disappeared as a thick impenetrable mist blanketed the area, leaving Kakashi and Kurenai standing still waiting for the next move. Meanwhile within the cage of mirrors, Sasuke and Hinata were dancing around trying to avoid the latest barrage of senbon needles. This latest one was the eleventh since their incarceration began, and they were gradually losing strength, pushing themselves onwards through determination and willpower alone.

The pair watched in fascination as the air outside of the cage was filled with a thick cloud of mist, thicker than before, and yet inside the cage of ice mirrors the air was still the same. 'Well that's one blessing I suppose…' mused Sasuke as he yanked a senbon out of his thigh '…just one or two more rounds of attacks…and I think I've got it. My sharingan's so close now…so close. And with it, I can end this battle once and for all.'

Outside within the fog, Kakashi and Kurenai looked all around them for a sign of Zabuza. "This fog is so thick…I doubt even Zabuza could see through this" Kurenai said under her breath. Kakashi nodded in agreement, but as he saw some familiar shapes speeding through the mist he quickly pushed a surprised Kurenai aside and deflected several shurikan with his kunai.

"Impressive that you could block those…Sharingan Kakashi…" came a voice from behind Kakashi. Spinning around, Kakashi saw Zabuza standing slightly bent with one hand in the controlling hand sign for the Kirigakure technique. But what really amazed the jounin was the fact that Zabuza's eyes were closed. "…But…the next time either of you see me will be the end of everything. You have overrated your sharingan a little too much. The same goes for your genjutsu Yuuhi. You acted as if you knew everything, but that ominous prediction of your's was wrong. You can read neither mind nor future Kakashi…the sharingan…is simply a trick that makes your opponent think you can. Its basically an eye technique involving hypnotism and an attention to detail. Using these two abilities together you can progress from copying the body to copying the mind to copying the jutsu in a simple linear path. This is the dance that makes it look like you can predict the future…"

"…First with a keen eye you copy my movements and shake my mind, and using my confused state you can exactly what I am about to say and thus…'become me'. Then when the confusion is at its peak, you attack my mind with a hypnotic genjutsu suggesting what seal I should perform next…and from there you simply copy me. So the answer is simple. First with this thick mist I render your keen eye useless…and by keeping my own eyes closed I remove the chance of being hypnotized. It's the same with your precious genjutsu Kurenai; the skills you are so famed for in the illusionary arts are useless when you cannot pinpoint your target correctly. And what's more, I don't even need to see. As a genius of the art of silent killing, I can take down an enemy through their sound alone."

At those words, Kakashi turned his head on instinct in the direction he knew Sakura and Tazuna to be. 'Shit!' he thought, his body disappearing as he quickly moved to the pair, appearing between them and Zabuza just in time to barely block an attack. From within the cage of ice mirrors, all Sasuke and Hinata could hear was Sakura's cries of alarm.

'That was Sakura…what's going on out there?' Sasuke thought, pulling himself up after the twelfth barrage of needles. This time he and Hinata had avoided sixty percent of the needles aimed at them, they were really getting the hang of things. From within her mirror, Haku gazed at the pair with wonder. 'Even though I am aiming at critical areas, they continue to dodge my attacks. They truly are learning to see my movements. I expected as much from the Hyuga's Byakugan, but that boy…what has he got up his sleeve?'

"Dodging my attacks at the last second…you both have spectacular movement. But this time is the last time…now I shall stop you both" Haku said in her ice cold voice. The pair watched as she lifted her latest senbon needle and immediately tensed themselves. Oddly enough, within their individual minds, both Sasuke and Hinata were repeating the same mantra. 'Calm down…concentrate…and see through it' they both repeated calmly, and as the attacks were made, both Hinata and Sasuke easily dodged to the left and right of the oncoming projectiles.

'Impossible…they actually saw it!' Haku thought, worry sprouting in her mind. Looking past the glaring Byakugan of Hinata, Haku looked instead at Sasuke, and as she saw what gazed back at her worry rapidly rose into panic. Because the pupils of those eyes were no longer onyx, oh no…now in the place of black there was crimson red. Crimson red pupils, with two tomoe in each eye!

'Sharingan?!' Haku thought, but she did not have any more time to think as Sasuke and Hinata looked at each other and nodded. Though no plan had been devised between the two, both of the genin knew that the other would be able to react and adapt to whatever they might do.

Sasuke began by making a clear beeline for the wall of the cage, so he could slide under the gap between the floating mirrors and the bridge beneath their feet. Haku reacted by throwing another hail of senbon at the boy, who simply dodged underneath and continued on his way. Using the water dripping from the ice, Sasuke skidded beneath the ice using a puddle to boost his speed, finally escaping the mirrors by sliding under them. "You may have gotten free, but you have left your comrade exposed…now she dies!" warned Haku, trying to sound as threatening as possible. She knew she needed to take them down, ending their counter attack before it could begin.

Aiming her next barrage directly at Hinata, Haku pushed herself to make this attack the fastest she could perform. The Hyuga seemed to just stand there focusing chakra, not moving even as the seemingly hundreds of needles descended from all directions. But as Hinata looked up, too late did Haku sense the large quantity of chakra within her body flowing directly to her hands.

'This is it Hinata…' the Hyuga thought to herself '…time to show everyone exactly what you are made of. You are stronger than you were, you shall be stronger still. All those who believe you to be weak shall be proved wrong. Make Naruto-kun proud!'

From her palms Hinata began to emit a constant stream of chakra. Taking the chakra she manipulated its form as she had been taught, but not into simple points from the fingers as used by the Hyuga, this time Hinata manipulated the chakra into blades. Long sharp blades of chakra capable of denting or even cutting through tempered steel…at least that's what she could eventually do. But now was no time for second guesses, she needed the jutsu to work.

"Jyukenjutsu! Shugohakke Rokujuyon Sho!" she cried out, and with that said her arms seemed to become a blur of movement. This was the move she had worked on with Naruto when the past few days, first in carefully experimenting and designing the jutsu on paper during the first day or so, before practicing hard under Naruto's direct watch. She had not initially believed herself capable of performing such a seeming audacious technique, but after a while Hinata found herself getting the hang of it. It was actually quite easy once you grasped the basic principal of moulding the naked form of the chakra emanating from the palms of the hands, and Hinata already had practice at that due to her Jyuken training with her father…though the less spoke about that the better.

The beams moved back and forth and Hinata used her natural flexibility to move them wherever she saw a target within her near perfect field of vision. Three hundred and fifty nine degree's was pretty damn near perfect after all. First she repelled all of the senbon needles, leaving some of them dented as they fell to the floor with small tinkling sounds. After that, Hinata set to work of digging away at the mirrors around her, pushing the length of the beams of sharp chakra until they connected with the ice. Using 'pulses' akin to a Jyuken strike aimed at the internal organs, Hinata began to create ripples of chakra in the ice. Whenever a beam touched the ice, a small pulse of her chakra like a ripple in a pond would spread, disrupting the carefully created elemental chakra holding the ice mirrors together.

Alone these ripples would do little, but when one ripple merges with another, and another and another, the points of stress in the ice are magnified. Before long cracks began to appear in each mirror, causing Haku to gasp in amazement. 'How is she doing this…is this the power of her clan style, Jyuken?' she thought, but immediately after her attention was diverted away from Hinata as she heard another voice above her.

"Katon! Hosenka no Jutsu" cried out Sasuke as he lay suspended in mid-air above the cage of mirrors. Breathing in deep he exhaled a plethora of large fireballs, all streaming down towards the mirrors with breakneck speed and force. They struck, and in the ensuing bursts of miniature explosions the cracks in the ice worsened until with several loud smashing noises akin to broken glass, each of the mirrors began to break and fall apart, rapidly disintegrating until nothing was left bar a panting Hinata. Sasuke landed a couple of feet away and looked at the girl with a small degree of respect, a wry grin on his face, his sharingan eyes burning with energy.

'This is it…I can feel it. I have finally unlocked my sharingan at last…' he thought, laughing in sheer happiness at finally having achieved a goal he had been after for so many years. Now he could copy jutsu with ease and gain power like a true Uchiha, so he may avenge his clan and kill his brother. '…And in a way, it was all thanks to you Naruto. I was driven before, but when you came back to the Academy and upstaged me again and gain, that drive intensified a thousand fold. You are my foil Naruto, together we shall push each other to excel and become stronger.'

Looking over, the pair noticed their adversary standing up. Escaping just as the fireballs had hit the ice, Haku had rolled away and watched in shock as her jutsu was broken from within and without. "That was indeed incredible; you both possess powerful kekkai genkai just as I do. If that is the case, then this battle cannot last much longer. You see my jutsu uses up a lot of chakra; there was a limit as to how long I could maintain that speed. The longer this battle goes on, the easier you two will be able to read my movements and counter attack. I must end this...NOW!" Haku intoned, once again chakra oozing from her body and coalescing around her as her hands sped through different seals to the Makyo Hyo Sho. The chakra was still the same, ice cold created from mixing water and wind, but the effect would be far more potent.

Sasuke noticed the chakra for the first time, and he saw where it was aimed. 'Shit, Hinata!' he thought, moving as fast as he could to push his comrade out of the way. Normally such an act would have been beyond him; at least that's what he would have believed before this mission. Everyone else just slowed him down, or did they. Sasuke was gradually beginning to see how working with others could be beneficial, that he didn't always have to go it alone. As Haku spoke the name of her jutsu aloud, Sasuke reached Hinata, and the pair were engulfed by something monstrous.

"Hijutsu! Makyo Hyo Pagoda" Haku called out, and after a split second five thick walls of ice rose up around Sasuke and Hinata. A pentagon of ice rising high into the air, its walls inside cold and slippery and impossible to climb. As the roof formed to top the pagoda of ice, with elegant spiralling carvings and ornate tiles of ice, all light inside the pagoda was turned to darkness. Sasuke and Hinata looked all around themselves frantically, there did not seem to be any escape. Hinata could still see in the dark with her Byakugan, and what she saw terrified her. They were trapped, encased in a cold box of death. Even the floor beneath their feet had frozen without their noticing.

From outside they heard a voice "I did not want it to end like this, but you left me no choice. This is my most innocent of technique's, killing through slow painless hypothermia. Inside here the temperature shall steadily drop below minus zero, past freezing, and as your bodies lose their energy and you collapse into unconsciousness, you shall die."

Turning to look at Hinata, Sasuke had to ask the question "Now what do we do?"

**Elsewhere**

As Hinata and Sasuke struggled on the bridge, Kiba and Shino were involved in their own fight which equally wasn't going the way they had hoped. Since following their adversary away from the bridge to the dirt road leading to it from town, their status in the fight had gone from bad to worse the moment she revealed her kekkai genkai. Currently hiding within the branches of a tree, Kiba looked down at the whimpering puppy lying in his lap. During one of their early attacks the girl who called herself Kaguya Tsugime had come incredibly close to breaking Akamaru's leg with her incredibly hard bones.

Luckily the injury that occurred turned out to be only a sprain, but it still put his best friend and partner out of commission. He knew the dangers of fighting with Akamaru; he knew the possibilities that could occur. The prospect of seeing ones partner get hurt or die was something drilled into the minds of every Inuzuka at an early age, but those were just words handed down from the clan elders. In reality seeing Akamaru whine in pain was something that set Kiba's blood to boil.

Taking off his jacket Kiba made a small bed for the dog before laying him down to rest. "Stay quiet okay buddy, Shino still needs me out there" the Inuzuka whispered to his puppy friend, before slowly slinking away into the foliage without disturbing a leaf. As Kiba took care of Akamaru, Shino was busy fending off his adversary. His kikaichu swirled all around him ready to attack or defend at a moments notice, but for now the pair were locked in a standoff.

'So this is what it is like facing a kekkai genkai…' Shino thought as he eyed his opponent carefully, playing back every piece of the battle so far in his mind. '…She must have some weakness; all creatures in nature have weaknesses so what is hers. But to discern weakness I must first analyse strength. Her special ability seems to have something with controlling the growth and density of the bones within her body. Whenever I or Kiba attempt a physical assault she either dodges, counter attacks with her bone weapons or defends by growing bones through her skin to form spikes, like a porcupine. It's the same when we try a ballistic assault with kunai or shurikan; she simply cuts the weapons into pieces or defends with her body. Surely the act of growing or tampering with ones physical body causes her pain, which means she must have a high pain threshold. Perhaps if her ability were pushed then the pain might overwhelm her and force a blackout. No, too risky and too long term a plan, this defeat must be swift and decisive. The only option appears to be that I must envelope her in a swarm and drain her chakra. Good thing this is the form of attack in which all Aburame excel.'

As Shino prepared his next move, Tsugime eyed the Aburame warily. 'Aburame control insects that drain chakra, so I cannot allow him to envelope me in a swarm. Still, even if he does I have my trump card. Like the old saying goes, the best offence is a good defence, and I have both' the Kaguya thought, and in the blink of an eye she was moving again.

Running straight for the Konoha shinobi, Tsugime threw herself forwards into a roll to avoid the first swarm of insects. The momentum carried her forwards and with ease she was up and continuing her advance. Throwing her palms forwards she 'ejected' the two long dart-like bones which flew towards her target. Both struck with sickening thuds, but Tsugime did not celebrate as she saw the form of the Aburame disintegrate into another pile of insects.

'Another Mushi Bunshin' she thought calmly, halting her running advance with a screech, her feet sending up dust. Her eyes darted left and right, narrowing as she saw two figures charging from either side of her. Two Shino's converged from either side, their kunai poised for a twin attack aimed at both lungs. But as they approached, Tsugime simply bent her arms. With a quick thrust spikes of bone grew from her elbow joints and impaled the two Shino's, who like the previous copy, collapsed into piles of kikaichu. 'He knows any clone he sends against me can be easily cut down, so why waste his chakra with meaningless attacks' Tsugime thought.

But then she heard the voice of her foe call out from all around her. "Hijutsu! Mushidama" Shino spoke, and as one his faithful kikaichu rose around Tsugime in an all encompassing globe. Tsugime cursed as the insects converged on her and covered her entire body in a form fitting cocoon of crawling beetles.

Emerging from the ground behind her, Shino began his lecture as was the want of an Aburame in battle. "You believed that each attack I was performing was meaningless, that I was just wasting chakra in desperate moves for my own survival. The smart shinobi always plans two moves ahead, coordinating every manoeuvre into a carefully plotted strategy. I knew I could not take you down in a close confrontation, only by completely surrounding you and draining your chakra could I prove victorious. First I sent a simple forwards barrage, easy to dodge by a taijutsu based fighter like yourself, and with that I had bugs behind you. Then when you attacked with those spines of bone, it was child play to kawarimi with a Mushi Bunshin, as you would expect having already seen my technique. You thought I was trying the same old trick, but this case was different, now I had insects in front of you. Then all I had to do was send in two more clones, in a feigned assault to be speared by your bones and you were surrounded."

Shino could sense his kikaichu as they feasted on the girl's chakra, he was surprised by just how much her body held but he was confident the battle was over. Then he felt something from his insects, and the figure before him shivered. From within the veil of insects Tsugime mounted her own attack "Sawarabi no Mae!"

Shino felt a rumbling beneath his feet and with only a split second to act leapt into the air as several large spikes of bone erupted from the earth. They grew rapidly and in moments the ground beneath Shino was covered with deadly spikes. Shino looked down as gravity asserted itself and his body began to fall to earth, directly towards one of the spikes. Certain to be impaled, Shino closed his eyes and prepared for the worst.

"Tsuga!"

Shino's eyes shot open at the sound of the technique, and he was just about to turn his head in the direction of the voice when he felt a jarring impact. He felt his body he hit hard by a spinning blunt force, flying away from the point of impact into the trees. Righting himself Shino somersaulted to land on his feet on a particularly thick branch, his hand supporting his body by pressing against the nearby trunk. He heard a poof and looked over to see an impaled log covered in explosive tags. "This should drive her out" he heard, and looking behind him Shino saw a panting Kiba with a ferocious grin on his face.

Emerging from within one of the large spikes of bone, Tsugime looked around for the signs of a skewered corpse. 'The Sawarabi no Mae holds both excellent offence and brilliant defence, growing bones from one body at a rapid rate like the roots of a tree, from which more spines of bone grow until you have a forest of bone. Hiding with these spines makes one untouchable, but at the cost of your sight. Only through the vibrations running through the bone can you determine an enemies location, sound waves…' the Kaguya thought, before she noticed Kiba's trap '…Great.'

As one the tags detonated, and a thunderous explosion ripped through the improvised battlefield. Shino and Kiba held onto the tree's trunk with all of their strength, employing the Tree Climbing skill they had learnt for extra purchase on the wooden surface. When the smoke cleared and the ringing in their ears died down, the team mates looked at what had been wrought to their foe. Chunks of bone littered the area, the explosive tags power being just enough to smash the deadly improvised forest apart, save for the 'roots' of the bone spines still poking from the earth.

"Did we beat her?" Kiba whispered with a whistle, but he got no reply from his stoic friend. Shino was busy trying to communicate with his kikaichu he had used to envelope the girl. 'She's gone…but how. To pull off a jutsu from within the Mushidama is one thing, but to escape it entirely. This is unprecedented in the history of the clan!' he thought.

"Fools…" came a voice from behind them. The pair, danger sense and instinct taking over, jumped from their positions on the branch. Twisting in mid-air, they had just enough time to watch as their quarry moved in with a hilt less bone short sword. It looked like she had grown it from her humerus bone, but neither had time to check as Tsugime calmly spoke "…Tsubaki no Mae."

Time stood still for Shino and Kiba, as the blade of bone slashed through cloth and skin and blood erupted from within their bodies. Both landed with a harsh slam onto the ground, trying to get up but finding they were unable to, their bodies momentarily going into shock. Both had received slashes a single slash across their chests and defending arms, their breathing suddenly coming in short bursts. Looking up, Kiba swore as he saw the unbelievable girl standing above him. They through everything at her and yet she remained standing, the same neutral look on her face as before.

"Do not fear shinobi of Konoha. Your death was assured from the beginning, and I shall deliver it swiftly. You shall feel no pain in your passing. Be proud, you die a warrior's death, an honourable death…farewell" she intoned, raising her sword high to deliver the finishing blow. Kiba closed his eyes and waited for the final strike. All he heard was the sound of metal striking something, and opening his eyes he saw the girl looking away from him down the road. He looked at ground and saw a shurikan sliced perfectly in half, before following the girls gaze down the road. His breath caught in his throat as he recognised a familiar form.

A small smile formed on Tsugime's face, "Ah, so the worthy adversary finally shows his face…finally."

Down the road, framed in the mist of the still early morning, was none other than one Uzumaki Naruto. His left hand was outstretched from throwing the shurikan, while in his right he held his deadly katana. Kiba looked closely and noticed the cuts and bruises on Naruto's face 'Has he been in a fight already? Damn that kid is something else, here we are getting beat up and he's ready for round two' he thought, gritting his teeth as he forced his body up, ignoring the sticky feeling of the blood and the numbness in his arms.

"So you defeated the Demon Brothers…impressive. But this is as far as you go shinobi of Konoha. For the sake of my future I must cast off my past. It is not your fault that you resemble otooji-dono, but never the less you must die" Tsugime said calmly, walking slowly towards Naruto. Naruto for his part was silent, opting to keep his mouth shut while his mind examined the enemy.

'This is the one from that morning. That bone in her hand, its laced with that distinctive chakra of hers. Like that other girl, she possesses a kekkai genkai of some sort. I get the same feelings from her as when I analyse Sasuke or Hinata's chakra, but her kekkai genkai seems to fall under the cellular manipulation category, if my guess is correct. She has the power to manipulate the structure of her bones into weapons, but to what extent remains to be seen. Still, only one way to find out…' he thought.

A familiar pulse ran through the back of Naruto's mind, causing his grip on his katana to tighten for a moment '…Shit, so much has happened in the time it took me to get here. Kakashi-sensei and Kurenai-san are fighting Zabuza, and Hinata and Sasuke seem caught up in some ice technique. I need to end this fight quickly!'

"Kiba! Shino! Retreat to a safe vantage point to dress your wounds, then head for the bridge and support the others. I sent a clone ahead to give me an idea of the situation, and things don't seem good. I need you to go back Hinata and Sasuke up, they're not doing so hot!" Naruto shouted to his allies, you were both shakily on their feet. The pair nodded, before starting to move for the tree's to collect Akamaru.

But they found their path blocked by Tsugime, who intoned in an icy voice "You will NOT leave this place" before charging them once more with her sword. Shino and Kiba ground to a halt and hastily drew kunai to defend themselves, but a familiar blonde figure appeared between them and the white haired assassin. Striking hard and fast Naruto performed his own attack with his katana, meeting the girl head on. Their weapons clashed, and for a moment Kiba and Shino assumed that like their own weapons Naruto's katana, a blade of metal, would be cut in half by the girls dagger of hard bone. But nothing happened, and Naruto smirked at the girls surprise at her bones sudden ineffectiveness. Pushing her back, he forced her into a retreating jump backwards.

Narrowing her eyes, Tsugime looked at her true opponent with newfound interest. "How did your weapon survive the impact. My bones are harder than tempered steel; your blade should be lying at your feet" she said slowly, her gaze never leaving the blonde for an instant.

"Now why would I tell you and spoil the magic…" Naruto chided with a foxy grin, wagging his finger back and forth "…surprises are more fun when they are a surprise."

The smile returned to Tsugime's face as she felt her Kaguya blood begin to rise to the fore. It was rare that she encountered an opponent who could meet her head on, and she relished the opportunity of a good fight. "Indeed" she replied, before the two leaped simultaneously forwards.

After seeing his shurikan get so easily cut in half by a single swipe of the bone sword, Naruto had coated his katana in a membrane of chakra laden condensed air, effectively increasing the swords cutting power and protecting it from the bone. In theory than was the idea, but in practice Naruto could see a small scratch on the surface of his sword. Returning to the fight the pair engaged in full on combat, Tsugime using her sword of bone in the Tsubaki no Mae, Naruto fighting with his clan katana using the revised kenjutsu style he had learnt no more than a week ago.

Exchanging blows the pair spiralled in an elegant dance, Tsugime moving with quick cuts and thrusts as she moved to disable Naruto quickly. Naruto meanwhile gave as good as he got, dodging with parries and rolls whilst returning blows with his own. For a minute they clashed like this, before Tsugime decided to up the ante by moving on to the next dance in her clan's repertoire.

With a flick of her wrist she threw her sword of bone directly at Naruto's forehead, giving her a brief moment as the boy dodged the projectile to begin the next dance. The bones in her palm fused and grew as her kekkai genkai performed its purpose, and from her palms grew two blades. "Yanagi no Mae" she spoke solemnly, before bending one knee and springing forwards at her adversary.

When he saw the bone fly towards him, Naruto had dodged by bending backwards a la limbo, and when he turned his head and saw the girl he was fighting flying towards him with her palm outstretched, a blade of bone protruding from said palm, he was forced to push his body further. His muscles were still cramped from being pushed so hard in his previous fight, and thought they had pretty much healed his cuts and bruises had left internal damage, they had sapped vital strength from his body. He had bluffed his way out of being treated by Tsunami, but Naruto knew deep down that he was pushing his limits. The concussion didn't help either, his vision slurring at times.

Pushing down hard on his right foot, Naruto sent his reclined body into a spiral upwards, cork screwing through the air and dodging the strike. Bringing his sword arm and using the added momentum for extra power, Naruto made his own bid for first blood, aiming for the girls back as she moved beneath him. 'C'mon you damn kitsune, heal me already since it's all your good for' he thought.

From within its prison, the Kyuubi no Kitsune chuckled as it heard its containers curses. "You shall get my strength gaki…in time. But first I think a lesson needs to be learnt. I want you to beg for the power I can grant, and only then will I give it" the demon fox said with a dark chuckle.

Tsugime saw the manoeuvre and reacted with one of her own. Growing secondary blades from her elbows she threw herself into her own corkscrew, her four blades clanging against the katana and halting the slash as she span, before she flipped away from the confrontation. 'This one is good, the best in a long time' she thought, her grudging respect for the blonde rising steadily. Naruto meanwhile landed on his feet and gazed at his opponent, noticing the change in tactics.

'She said 'Yanagi no Mae'…dance of the willow? So, her she attacks using taijutsu based dances, using specific bones for the attack. The first used that singular sword of bone combined with quick thrusts and cuts; it must be the most rudimentary. This one uses blades from the palms, elbows, and I can guess the knee's and shoulders as well if secondary joints are to be considered…' Naruto thought, before Tsugime pivoted and continued her attack.

Naruto moved admirably in the face of the new style, which was more energetic than the previous one. This style used acrobatic spins, charges and long sweeping slashes to make the strikes more effective and avoid the opponents counter strikes easier. And Naruto was right in his assumption that bones grown from the knee's and shoulders would be used, as during one move Tsugime almost skewered him in the stomach with a shoulder blade as he vaulted over her body.

As the bone retracted into her shoulder with a sickening crunching noise, Naruto thought his options through. 'This is taking too long!' Naruto cursed, his mind working over time to try to create a strategy. The girls offence was her greatest defence, and vice versa. He could try ninjutsu such as Kage Bunshin or perhaps an Enmaku to confuse her, but if her skill was to be believed then those options would just waste precious chakra he needed for the bridge. It seemed, against his bodies wishes, he would need to continue with taijutsu, but even that would have to be quick. His katana by now had several scratches down its length, and he did not want the blade his ancestors had wielded to suffer any more damage.

'That's it!' he thought, taijutsu was the key, and in that area he had a pretty powerful trump card. In his head Naruto quickly joined the dots and came up with what he believed would be a strategy that would quickly overwhelm the girl. Shifting his stance, Naruto gradually widened his footing and pivoted his torso, bringing his katana arm backwards whilst pushing his empty hand forwards, until his arms formed a straight line with his shoulders. His katana was held horizontally at a right angle to his straight arm, whilst his empty hand pushed out as a motionless palm strike.

"Kyuuten Kaihousho! Washi no Koi!" he said in a tone which surprised even the emotionless Tsugime. Unknown to the girl, Naruto's chakra had started leaking slowly from the pores of his body, mixing with the air around him as he subconsciously performed the Fuusaishuu. With a slight push down of his foot, Naruto was away, leaping upwards into the air. His legs bent as he descended, his form resembled an eagle swooping on its prey. 'Way of the Eagle…so he too has taijutsu dances of his own' Tsugime thought, her breathing quickening as her blood began to boil in excitement.

Naruto's falling form seemed to be slow and easy to predict, and Tsugime prepared her own dance counter attack. 'Karamatsu no Mae, the razor sharp defence of the Kaguya kekkai genkai' she thought with a smile. But her smile faltered as the blonde disappeared, his speed increasing to a point where his descent was that of a missile rather than an eagle. Tsugime, for the first time that fight, was actually caught off guard as Naruto's speeding foot slammed into her chest bone with the force of a hammer from heaven itself.

Naruto somersaulted backwards from the strike, landing in his stance easily, his eyes bearing a steely glint. Whipping his katana within his hand 180 degree's till the edge faced away from him, Naruto span and brought the weapon in a rapid slashing motion. Tsugime, forgetting her training for a second in the face of the boys surprising ferocity, could only back away slightly, the tip of the blade catching her pale cheek barely. Her eyes widened as she witnessed a sight she had not seen for years, her own blood flying before her face. Naruto smiled slightly, after so long he had finally drawn first blood in this fight.

Naruto meanwhile held the spin and, with his back to his foe, executed a quick backwards left kick. His limbs were perfectly balanced, his posture perfect, but when he failed to connect AND withdraw his leg the boy was forced to pause. Looking over his shoulder, it was Naruto's turn to gawp as he found his foot caught in his opponents extended rib bones. The bones tore through her clothing in six small holes, twisting to hold Naruto's foot in place. Pulling with all his strength, Naruto grunted in pain as his foot slipped free of the bones at the cost of the bones cutting into his calves, ankle and foot.

But he gritted his teeth and swung his foot around to pull his body into a position where he could face his enemy, but the moment he did so Tsugime was moving. The ribs retracted back into her torso and she thrust forwards with her right palm. She was within inches on Naruto's heart when she felt a strong hand on her wrist pushing down on her arm. She noticed Naruto's katana falling to the floor. Pushing down on her thrusting arm with his left hand, Naruto pulled the limb inwards and locked it under his arm with a strong hold. Pushing his speed again, Naruto moved in as fast as he could with his now free right hand. His limb was a blur, and as his katana clanged onto the ground beneath the pair, Naruto's hand impacted with Tsugime's torso in a hard Jyuken style punch. To her credit, the girl reacted by instinct to the direct attack, her ribs once more springing from her body to ensnare the offending limb.

'He was luring me in all along' Tsugime thought in alarm, a sudden pain erupting from her chest as the effects of the punch made themselves known. With a hacking cough Tsugime spat out a gobbet of blood onto her blonde opponent's sleeve. Blood trickled down her chin, and for a moment, Tsugime was back in her childhood, crying for her mother from within her rocky prison cell.

"NO! I shall not be defeated by you! NOT YOU!" Tsugime screamed, her emotionless mask finally breaking away as her anger and Kaguya blood combined into a terrible fury. With her free limb she made a hard stabbing motion aimed at one of Naruto's lungs, she would tear him apart, make him suffer like no other before him.

Naruto reacted quickly, putting his strength into pulling the girl up. Using his grip on her body and his hold on her arm, Naruto executed a picture perfect judo throw over his shoulder, wincing as his arm tore free of the sharp rib bones. Tsugime snarled as she was thrown into the air, somersaulting to face her prey as she landed on her feet, moving like a cat to lunge at Naruto. Her normally calm mind clouded by anger, Tsugime failed to notice the large level of chakra collecting around Naruto's right up turned palm.

"Kyuuten Kaze Kusho!" Naruto cried out, thrusting forwards with his open palm. Tsugime yelled in pain and alarm as she was pushed backwards by a sudden hard gust of chakra laden air. Flying backwards like a rag doll, Tsugime quickly gained control of emotions and reigned in her anger. 'Stupid Tsugime, just stupid. You let him get under your skin and you lost control. Now pull yourself together and…wait. Why have I not hit the ground yet' Tsugime thought, before looking down and gasping. The reason she was yet to hit the ground was that she was somehow stuck, suspended about a foot off the ground.

"You know…" the boys voice caught her attention "…there is a reason why I was so out of it, that morning when you and your friend found me in the woods unconscious. I really had been training all night, honest to god, but it is exactly what I had been practicing that will interest you now, at this point. I was practicing a jutsu, a kinjutsu by the name of Fuusaishuu no Jutsu. When mastered, it allows the user to expel their chakra into the air, eventually allowing the user to control the air like it were a living thing. I can condense the air like you increase the density of your bones, but I can mould the air around me into more than blades. That is how I stopped your bones from breaking my katana, by covering it in super condensed air. And now, I am doing the same with your body, using the air I just used by smash you backwards like a rag doll" Naruto said, walking towards Tsugime with one arm outstretched.

"This is where this battle ends. I am sorry to finish it this way, but I need to help my friends. I am sure you understand, your loyalty to Zabuza must be just as strong" Naruto continued. For the first time in so long, Tsugime was afraid. She gazed at Naruto with fear, unable to turn her head away as the boys eyes bored into her very soul. "No! Go away! Leave me alone!" she cried out, tears sliding down her eyes as suddenly she was a weak child again. "I don't want to die! Okaasan!" she screamed, weeping frightened tears.

Naruto looked at the girl, amazed at the true fragility she held within her. Like the two men he had encountered before, she was just a child at heart, broken by terrible occurrences in her life. "I would not scream if I were you, it will only increase the amount of air entering your lungs…" Naruto stated with a note of pity in his voice.

Tsugime looked at him in alarm 'Air in my lungs…how can he…what is he' she thought frantically, trying to move with all her might. All she got from her body was slight twitches from within a strange cocoon of soft yet hard air.

"…When fighting an opponent like yourself with such a powerful defence, a wise shinobi targets within, not without. My Fuusaishuu jutsu controls the AIR itself, or more specifically at this moment, the air in your lungs" Naruto finished, his fingers twitching slightly from his outstretched hand.

A pain suddenly flared in Tsugime's chest as she found her breathing become more and more laboured, her lungs contracting less and less within her chest. 'He's controlling the air in my lungs! Forcing it to…expand outwards…cant breath…cant…' Tsugime thought, as her body finally gave in and she blacked out from lack of air.

Feeling her body go limp within his cocoon of air, Naruto gently lowered her and released his control on the air within her lungs. Laying her upon the ground, he walked over and hoisted her over his right shoulder. Walking over to a nearby tree he laid the unconscious girl against a tree. Standing up straight, Naruto looked at the girl hard. 'She must have lost her parents as well. I feel sorry for her, I know what growing up without parents is like. I wonder…could I help her?' he thought, before bending down before the girl and placing his hands on her temples. Steadying his breath, Naruto closed his eyes and opened himself to the power of the Shinzui Hashi.

Within her mind, Tsugime felt herself drift through some empty space, floating through nothingness. She briefly saw the blonde boy she had been fighting, and heard the words 'Shinzui Hashi'. 'Spirit Bridge…what's that?' she thought, before a bright light blinded her for a moment. Lifting up her hand to shield her eyes, Tsugime could make out two figures walking towards her down a bridge of pure shining chakra. When the light cleared, and she could finally see who the two figures were, Tsugime could not help but gasp in surprise. Tears rolled down her cheeks as she said, questioningly "Okaasan? Otooji-dono?"

**Back at the Bridge**

Kakashi clutched at his chest, trying to stem the flow of blood from the new slash across his chest. He had managed to come between Zabuza and Sakura and Tazuna in time, but only with enough nanoseconds to spare as to form a human shield between them and the sword wielding maniac.

"You were too slow Kakashi…" chided Zabuza scornfully "…Did your desire to save the brats cloud your mind and make the mist even thicker. Even with that impressive eye, your ability to read my movements is dimming. He he, let me enjoy this a little more Kakashi, if you could be so kind. I want to savour the fun as I return the favour for before. Don't worry about those gaki behind us, Haku has probably already killed them. In fact, since I am about to send you to the same place, I think you can apologise to them in the next life, apologise for lacking the strength to protect them, hahahahahahaha!"

It was Sakura who finally perked up, yelling "Sasuke and Hinata wont be beaten that easily!"

Kakashi smiled from beneath his face mask, "Exactly right Sakura. I believe in the strength and determination that those tow possess. Hinata is the heiress to the Hyuga clan, one of the most powerful clans in all of Konoha. Sasuke is no different, that boy is the offspring of the most outstanding clans in Konoha…" he said with conviction evident in his voice.

"You mean…" Zabuza asked, knowing exactly what Kakashi was inferring.

"…Yes, that boy's full name…is Uchiha Sasuke. He is a child prodigy, a genius with the advanced blood of the Uchiha clan flowing through his veins" Kakashi finished. A silence followed, before Zabuza perked up again.

"…And offspring of that tragic clan…still, the same applies to Haku. As slim as it may be, even if they defeat her mirror jutsu, there is no way they can survive the other tricks that child has up her sleeve" he intoned with menace, before the mist thickened around him and he disappeared once more.

Sakura's eyes bugged 'No way, that kids a girl!' she thought, as her mind returned back to the duty at hand. Through the mist she saw two figures approaching from her right side, and feared the worst, but relaxed as she realised who they were.

Kiba and Shino had watched Naruto's fight for a little while as they cleaned and dressed their wounds, before leaving as Kiba picked up Akamaru. The Inuzuka took his puppy and bound him to his chest so he would not fall, eliciting small whimpers from the dog. The plan they came up with was to make their way through the trees until they came to the shore of the sea. Then, using the bases of the pillars they would move beneath the bridge avoiding the conflicts above, making their way to the back where they knew Tazuna and Sasuke were. They could then scale the pillars using the Tree Climbing abilities they had learnt.

It took them some time, but they finally made it to the top of the bridge and through the mist, Kiba's nose leading them directly to Sakura and her strawberry scented hair (from the shampoo she had used the night before when bathing). "Sakura-san, we are here to back you up" Shino said as he and Kiba moved to flank Tazuna on either side in a manji formation.

Kakashi looked at the pair and breathed a sigh of relief, his mind becoming even more at ease when he saw Kurenai appear behind him. "Shino, Kiba, did you defeat that white haired girl?" Kurenai asked, glad to see her genin in one piece.

"No, she over powered us at every turn" Shino replied briskly.

"Then how did you get away?" Sakura asked, jounin her sensei in the relief of seeing her allies safe.

"Naruto…" Kiba replied as he tried to comfort Akamaru with some gentle scratching "…he appeared out of nowhere and totally saved our butts. That ice cold chick was going to nail us, and I mean 'kill us' nail us. Last thing we saw he was taking her on, and doing pretty well too. The kids unreal I can tell you."

Kakashi nodded 'So he has finally come to the fore, now our chances have improved substantially.'

"But…" Shino's voice cut through the silence catching everyone's attention "…Uzumaki-san appeared to have sustained several injuries. He bore many cuts and a dark bruise to the forehead, leading me to surmise that he had been ambushed on the way here. That being said him rescuing us leads me to assume that he had beaten his attackers, but still, he is fighting two hard battles in a row. I fear for his safety."

Kakashi's look turned grim, his mind returning to the task at hand as Zabuza reminded their group of his presence. "I believe it is time we end this charade, don't you Kakashi?" he said from within the impenetrable mist.

Taking a step forwards, Kakashi spoke out to the mist. "Can you hear me Zabuza? You seem to believe that I survived all this time using just my sharingan. I am a former member of the ANBU, and you know what that means. What kind of shinobi I truly am…I can do more than just copy jutsu. I shall show you my own original ninjutsu, and settle this fight once and for all" he said, cupping his hand beneath a specific pouch on his jacket.

**Nearby**

Naruto picked up his katana and looked the blade over. It was covered in nicks and scrapes, the edge dented in some places. "I am going to have to go see Ryu-san when this is all over, and have him fix you right up…" he said, looked forlorn at his ancestral weapon. He sheathed the sword before taking out his weapons scroll and re-sealing it with a poof of ninja smoke. "…Now to go and help the others…" he said, heading off in the direction of the bridge. He took ten paces, before pain exploded within his body. Collapsing on one knee, Naruto stopped himself from falling completely by leaning on both hands. Breathing heavily, he sat there for a minute trying to get up.

"…Damn, how can I come so far and fall now! Now of all places, when I am so close to the bridge…" he cursed, reaching slowly for his left hip pouch where he retrieved several hyorogan pills. Popping the chakra boosting pills into his mouth, Naruto chewed quickly, swallowing the slightly bitter pills. He had gotten these pills at the behest of Ryu, who had sold him some extra strong pills the last time Naruto had visited. Feeling a sudden rush of chakra flow through his body, Naruto stood up and with some difficulty continued on his way to the bridge.

Building up to a run, he eventually got there and stopped at the sight of the thick mist. 'Zabuza's Kirigakure no Jutsu. He'll be hiding in there as well, but I have no choice, I have to save Sasuke and Hinata' he thought, taking a deep breath before plunging head first into the mist.

It did not take him long to zero in on where he knew Sasuke and Hinata to be, what with the pair being trapped inside of a large tower of ice. Looking up at the structure, Naruto reached over and touched the surface, trying to come up with a way of getting through the ice. Being a product of some sort of kekkai genkai, a chakra fusion type unless Naruto missed his guess, a katon jutsu would do nothing against such thick ice. As he furiously tried to come up with an idea, Naruto heard a cracking noise…then another.

Taking a step backwards, Naruto watched as the great ice structure gradually disintegrated from the top down, until to his shock it revealed two very cold shinobi. Naruto fought back a tear as he looked at Hinata, who was so pale she might as well be dead. He was just getting to know the girl, pulling her out of her shell. He had so hoped that they could be good friends, but now it was over.

Sasuke meanwhile was barely standing, hunched over with several senbon needles still embedded in his body. Naruto rushed forwards to grab the Uchiha as he fell backwards, lowering him slowly. Sasuke weakly turned to look at Naruto, and quietly huffed. "Typical…always turning up late…loser…" the Uchiha mumbled. Trying to laugh, Sasuke coughed twice "…What's with that face…you look so stupid. Me and Hinata, we finally beat that guy's jutsu, and then he sprung that thing on us. I…tried to keep Hinata warm, even with that coat she was succumbing to the cold quicker than I was. Used katon jutsu, tried digging out with kunai, nothing worked…"

A flood of images rushed through Sasuke's mind, memories of him interacting with Naruto. He remembered the time at the Academy, Naruto failing his exam and then turning up on Graduation Day. Being placed in Team Seven, facing the trials, being given a bell by Naruto and hating him for it. He remembered the more recent stuff, this mission, watching Naruto as he easily took his first life and became a true shinobi. The training, feeling angry that Naruto had already mastered what he had to learn, pushing himself harder than ever before to try to beat the blonde baka.

"…I hated you…" Sasuke said with odd determination "…and to be honest, I didn't think much of Hinata. She was always so timid, weak…but inside there I seemed to act without thinking. No, I did think…of you Naruto. I thought 'I need to beat this loser and show that teme Naruto just how strong an Uchiha is.' Ever since the test, you have always been one step ahead, and that…pissed me off so much. But, you drove me, forced me to push myself harder than I have in years. There was one…who used to push me like you did…and I swore…I swore I would not die until I killed him…my brother. Naruto…don't…die also."

And with that, Naruto felt Sasuke go limp in his arms. Looking down at Sasuke, and then over at Hinata, Naruto fought to keep his tears in check. The he heard a voice from within the mist, the voice of the girl who wore the mask. "He broke my jutsu and landed a blow on me, and as I engulfed him and that girl in my final attack me did nothing but protect her. Thinking selflessly he died trying to protect her. To protect a precious person, knowing it would cost him his life…he is a shinobi that deserves respect..." Haku said with the utmost solemnity.

She looked at Naruto from behind her mask, watching as he shook with what she believed was grief. "Is this the first time you have had to watch a friend die? This is the way of a shinobi…"

"Shut up!"

"…you must…" Haku said, stopping immediately at the interruption. She watched the boy continue to shudder, and a new feeling began to knaw at her from the pit of her stomach, doubt.

"I will never forgive you…" Naruto began, chakra beginning to swirl around him like a living thing. Then, all of a sudden, Naruto lay Sasuke down and looked up, his eyes now a dark red, his whisker markings thicker and more pronounced. "…I'm gonna fucking kill you!" he snarled.

From deep within its prison, the Kyuubi was laughing gleefully, a deep animalistic evil laugh. "That's it gaki, give in to the rage. Now is the time to gift you with my chakra! Revel in it! Tear our foe's limb from limb!"

Outside, Haku was beginning to back away as Naruto steadily rose, the red chakra swirling around him visible to the naked eye. From her point of view as is coalesced around him, Haku could swear that the chakra, for an instant, took on the image of a glaring fox. "Its impossible for chakra to change like this…it feels so evil…" she murmured, watching as the cuts and bruises all over Naruto's body began to hiss and heal over. "…His wounds are healing…what is this boy!?" she whispered, before looking in alarm as Naruto looked her dead in the eyes, and his chakra flooded the bridge like a tidal wave.

**Not far away**

Kakashi, Kurenai and Zabuza all blinked as they felt the sudden burst of evil chakra. Kakashi looked into the mist desperately as he withdrew a scroll from one of the pouches on his flak jacket, 'Is that Zabuza? No! This terrible chakra…it can't be…Naruto? Has the seal broken…no, wait…its not that bad. The seal has merely weakened slightly, and now the Kyuubi's chakra is leaking out through the cracks. If I end this now, there may still be time left!' he thought. Meanwhile, on his mark, Kurenai moved back to be with the genin, so as to give him the room he needed.

Meanwhile Zabuza looked in the direction of the chakra he was sensing, overwhelmed by just how much bloodlust it possessed. 'Is this Kakashi…no, the chakra is too foul' he thought, turning back to his own little battle.

Flipping the scroll into the air with his right hand, Kakashi moved his left hand up to his chest wound, stuck his finger in the wound, and in a single practiced motion caught the scroll, opened it and swiped his bloody finger down the length of the inscriptions. Spinning the open paper around his body in preparation fore the jutsu, Kakashi called out to Zabuza, "I know this is not your style Zabuza, but how about we cut the 'fun' short and end this right now!" he said, catching the scroll as if rolled itself up in a focusing seal.

"Hmmm, sounds interesting. What could you possibly do in this situation? Show me Kakashi" Zabuza said from within his thick mist.

**Back with Naruto**

Watching the growling boy eye her with anger in his red animal eyes, Haku quickly formed two mirrors of ice, one behind her and one behind the boy. If she could strafe him, use the two mirrors to increase her speed she just might be able to take him down. Stepping back into the mirror she readied several senbon in either hand, and as she prepared to throw, Naruto made his move. Shooting straight for the mirror she inhabited, Naruto took the projectiles head on. The senbon came within inches of his face, but he simply breathed in and stopped them with a loud roar from deep within his body.

'He stopped the senbon with just charka…' Haku thought as she zoomed from one mirror to the next, just missing Naruto take a swipe at her. She was just about to make it when a shadow from above caused her to hit the brakes and jump backwards, narrowly avoiding an awesome punch that broke the stone slabs where she had just been. '…Damn, got to get to the next mirror!' she thought as she made for her first mirror away from Naruto.

But she was stopped by Naruto, who grabbed her arm tight and swung her around like a child. The chakra that was swirling around his body was starting to tear grooves in the stone beneath them, and Haku knew she had to do something. Engulfed by this chakra, she desperately formed a release seal to try to combat the waves of nauseating energy, but to no avail. 'Damn, no matter how hard I try…can't push back his ki!' she thought, before the pressure increased on her arm causing her to cry out in pain. Then all she could see was Naruto's fist flying towards her face and impact like a lightning bolt.

The strength of the blow was such that it caused Haku to fly backwards, her mash sporting several great cracks in its fine smooth surface. With a terrific smashing sound, Haku once more found herself smashing through one of her ice mirrors; an experienced she had hoped would not be repeated. She skidded across the ground kicking up a great deal of dust amidst the fog, and, painstakingly she began to stand up after finally stopping. Naruto, seeing his enemy still standing bore in on her, his anger lending him unimaginable speed. But as he approached he began to wonder what he was doing, and as Haku's mask finally broke apart and fell to the ground, revealing her face, he stopped and began to calm down.

'I cannot defeat this boy…Zabuza-san…I…I am…I have failed you' she thought, before noticing that Naruto had stopped, his fist inches from her face. "Why did you stop…" she asked him "…I killed your precious friends, and yet you are unable to give me the final blow. You have fought and beaten both Tsugime and the Demon Brothers to get here, and yet you stop now?"

Naruto looked at the girl, and then his feet, before cursing and smashing her in the chin. Haku got up, spitting out blood and wiping her chin with the back of her sleeve. "Where was your killer intensity from before, your drive? Many have made this mistake, letting an enemy live out of pity, letting them leave with just their lives…" she said, her breath coming out slow and steady.

In Naruto's conflicted mind, he was going over the conversation he had had with Haku that morning. Now that he had calmed down, his mind began to work through what had just happened. He remembered feeling angry after seeing Sasuke and Hinata lying on the ground, and then he felt this chakra from nowhere and the red mist descended over his eyes. 'That must have been the Kyuubi's chakra, it's the only explanation. My anger allowed the fox's chakra to slip through the seal some how…I'll need to watch that in the future' he thought.

Haku continued to speak as Naruto thought and listened at the same time, "Can you understand…not having a dream…not being needed by anyone…the pain of simply living. Zabuza has no need for a weak shinobi; you have taken away my reason for living" she said with a small smile.

"Why do you go so far for Zabuza? The man is working for a criminal who only wants to choke the life out of this land for his own gain. Why speak as if your life is over, is he the only person important to you?" Naruto asked calmly, hoping to finally get some answers as to the whole situation with Nami no Kuni.

"I once had people precious to me…my parents…long ago. I was born in a snowy village in Mizu no Kuni. I was happy, my parents were kind people…but, as I grew up and began to learn the ways of the world…something happened…" Haku continued, wiping the blood from her cut lip with the back of her hand. She looked at the blood with a far away expression. "…Because of this blood, my father killed my mother and then tried to kill me."

Naruto's eyes flickered at what he had heard 'What on earth is wrong with that country…is it that screwed up? How many monsters has it created because of its archaic ideals?' he thought angrily.

Haku continued "…Mizu no Kuni has suffered countless civil wars throughout its history. During these conflicts, those with kekkai genkai were used as living weapons, and because of this they became hated by others. They were seen as the bringers of misfortune, tools used only for destruction. During times of peace, many innocents within these special clans tried to hide their abilities, for if they were discovered death would be the only path open to them. Your comrades must have experienced that same hardship, for those with special abilities are always feared. My mother was from one of these clans…and she died because of it. And when my father turned on me…something deep within me acted, and I killed him. I killed my own father. And at that time I thought of myself as…no…I had not choice but to think of myself as…the most painful thing imaginable. I am a person who is unwanted…"

Naruto flinched at those words, memories of his terrible childhood rising to the surface. 'She's just like me' he thought, a new feeling of sympathy towards the girl beginning to replace abject anger.

"…You told me that you wanted to become the strongest shinobi in your village, to be acknowledged and to protect those that you believe to be precious. When someone acknowledges you from the bottom of their heart…wouldn't that person become the most important person in the world to you? Zabuza-san took me in, knowing I possessed a kekkai genkai, knowing I was hated by many. He needed my strength…" Haku continued, tears welling up in her eyes towards the end "…I was so happy" she said as more memories returned to her mind.

**Flashback**

_Haku and Zabuza stood atop a cliff, over looking Kirigakure no Sato. Zabuza said nothing for a while, before turning to his apprentice. "Today Haku, I abandon this country and cast off the shackles it has imposed on me. I shall leave this land, but some day I shall return and claim it for my own. I desire no consolation or encouragement, what I need is…"_

_Haku interrupted him, knowing what he was going to say. "I know Zabuza-san. Do not worry, I am your weapon. Keep me by your side as your tool; use me how you see fit."_

_Zabuza looked down at Haku with something akin to a smile, "Heh…good kid."_

**End Flashback**

"I was unable to become the weapon Zabuza-san sought. Naruto-kun…please…kill me" Haku said calmly. Naruto looked at the girl with disbelief in his eyes. 'She wants me to kill her…why? What the hell is wrong with these people?' he thought incredulously.

Shaking his head, Naruto gave his reply. "No…no…no. Let me tell you about the day I have had so far, because I have had one HELL of a day so far. First I wake up late, my team mates leaving me to come here and be ambushed by you guys. On route here, the first time around, I myself get ambushed by two berzerk nutcases with swords, giant metal claws and everything. I get concussed and beat around, but I beat them, give 'em a lecture and tie them to a tree, job done. I return to my client's house, because I know how assassins like you guys work, getting hostages and everything, and what do I find. Two samurai punks whaling on an innocent mother and her kid. I beat them up; make sure the guys are safe, them head here. Oh and need I remind you I have a concussion and my face looks like raw meat. Then I get here, and more of my friends are about to be killed by your crazy bone growing friend. I save them, fight her, she goes crazy because I somehow remind her of some old relative, and I beat her. Knock her out; leave her lying against a tree. Now I get here, see my friends in a death like state, beat the crap out of YOU for putting them in said death like state, and now I get this. You know what I say, get a fucking clue!"

**Meanwhile**

Kakashi ran through the seals for his jutsu, the scroll incorporated into the seals in a very flashy way. Slamming the rolled up scroll into the ground he cried out the name of his technique "Kuchiyose! Doton! Tsuiga no Jutsu" and with that cry, summon markings spread along the ground.

From within the 'safety' of his mist, Zabuza moved unseen, hearing Kakashi's efforts to find him and laughing. "Humph, whatever you do is useless. There is no way you can locate me, where as I have you at the mercy of my jutsu, I know exactly where you are!" he taunted, before feeling a slight rumbling beneath his feet. Opening his eyes, Zabuza could hear what he thought was the sound of dogs barking, which was joined quickly by cracking noises. Looking at his feet, Zabuza was shocked to see two dogs emerge from the stone of the bridge and latch onto his ankles with their jaws. He grunted at the sudden shots of pain running up his spine, before looking around and seeing six other dogs emerge from the ground and lunge at him.

Kiba's ears perked up at the sound "Are those…?" he said aloud. "If eyes and ears don't work, just use your nose aye Kiba" Kakashi replied with a smile. The mist immediately began to dissipate, revealing Zabuza standing eleven feet from the surprised ground. He was held in place by eight dogs, of different breed, each wearing Konoha hitai-ate and small capes with smiling face on them.

"That's what happens when you have your eyes shut in the mist. This summoning is especially for tracking down an opponent. All this time I was letting you wound me, so your weapons would be coated in my blood…" Kakashi lectured as he walked slightly more forwards "…these are my cute ninken, their sense of smell is far greater than other dogs, and so you see Zabuza…it is you who are trapped in my jutsu. The mist has cleared, and your future is death."

Zabuza scoffed, "My future is death, don't feed me your bull shit!"

Kakashi shook his head, "Don't be foolish. There's nothing you can do in this situation…your death is certain. Zabuza, you crossed the line this time, your ambition was your undoing. When you abandoned your country and became a nuke-nin, your story reached even as far as Konoha. Both your attempted coup de tat and your attempted assassination of the Mizukage failed. You needed money for revenge, and you needed to hide from those pursuing you, so you hired yourself out to scum like Gato…"

Kakashi stood confidently, running his hands through three seals. Gripping his right hand with his left, energy began to shimmer around his hand, becoming crackling blue electricity. As he pushed down and called out his jutsu's name "…Raikiri…" a screeching noise suddenly keened across the quiet bridge as the technique flared into life. Lightning energy surrounded Kakashi's right hand, generating a chirping sound not unlike that of a bird.

'Chakra so concentrated its visible…is this even possible?!' Zabuza thought as he struggled against the dogs holding him in place.

"…You are too dangerous Zabuza. Tazuna-san, the man you are trying to kill, is this lands 'courage'. The bridge he seeks to build is this countries 'hope'. Your ambition sacrifices too many people, which is not what a shinobi should do!" Kakashi continued, the chirping of his Raikiri adding to the background noise.

"I don't give a rat's ass, I fight for my own ideals and I shall continue to do so" Zabuza returned, giving Kakashi the mother of all death glares.

"…I will ask you once more…surrender now Zabuza! Surrender, or make death your only future" Kakashi said gravely.

**Back with Naruto**

"Why won't you kill me? You kill Kyouran to defend you friend, and yet you show leniency to all others who try to kill you, who try to kill your comrades. That day in the forest I thought you were like me, you should be able to understand. I am sorry to stain you blood, but this is the only way. True shinobi do not hesitate, now kill me!" Haku pleaded, hoping the insult would tip Naruto over the edge.

"I told you, I will not kill you. Losing a battle does not mean you lose the reason for existing, that's just stupid. There is more to life than fighting, you can be acknowledged for something else!" Naruto replied hotly.

"This is the only way to end this" Haku continued.

Naruto looked over to Sasuke and narrowed his eyes. "You say you live without dreams, but what about those who do live with dreams, what about them? Sasuke had a dream, Hinata had a dream, I have a dream, everyone has a damn dream. Some people don't figure theirs out until they have been through hell, but they find it. You can too!"

"Please…kill me" Haku pleaded one last time.

Naruto shook his head and sighed. "Fine…have it your way…" he said, whipping out a kunai from his kunai holster. "…You know the funny thing, I had hoped after all of this was over…that we could be friends. Hell, even Zabuza if he tried to stop killing people for a change…"

And with that, Naruto charged forwards. As he neared Haku and heard her say thank you, a small smile adorned Naruto's face. "…You know there is another way…I can simply knock you out!"

As Naruto moved, so did his sensei Kakashi further down the bridge. If one was quiet enough, it would have been possible to hear their feet hit the bridge simultaneously. As Naruto moved to knock Haku out, not kill her, Kakashi closed in on Zabuza with his Raikiri. Though the mist had largely cleared, some still lingered and too the genin and Kurenai who guarded Tazuna, Kakashi appeared to be a shadowy blur running towards another shadowy blur. As Naruto closed in on Haku, his kunai clutching hand reared back into a fist, he noticed the girl suddenly perk up. As he tried to strike, she suddenly disappeared before his eyes saying "Sorry Naruto-kun, I cannot die after all" in apology. Turning his head Naruto breathed out "Your not getting away that easy" and disappeared himself.

Meanwhile, as Kakashi closed in on Zabuza, his Raikiri arm held back ready to strike, neither of the shinobi heard the sound of ice forming beside them. Nor did they hear a slight whooshing sound akin to a sonic boom. Kakashi cried out as he struck, but then something did enter his field of vision. Or more specifically someone. Unable to pull back, his hand already plunging forwards in a jabbing strike, the move was made. A banging sound reverberated through the air, blood splattered across the floor, and all present gazed in shock at the person who had taken the Raikiri.

Naruto looked up weakly at his sensei, blood rapidly trickling down his lips as he felt his heart tear itself to shreds. He coughed up blood all over Kakashi's hand and said numbly through bloody lips "T…Th…they…don't…de…serve…t…to…die" before pulling himself off Kakashi's outstretched arm and collapsing onto the floor before a startled Zabuza.

Four people had witnessed what had happened, and for too it had happened too late to be avoided, such is the speed of the Raikiri. Haku had appeared through her mirror of ice and skewered the planted scroll with several senbon to end the capture jutsu. The she had stood before Zabuza as a human shield, intent on sacrificing her life for her master. But she had not counted on the speed and determination of one Uzumaki Naruto, who with speed Kakashi would later come to claim bordered on the Hiraishin of his father, intercepted Haku as she moved between Kakashi and Zabuza. Smashing her aside with a desperate uppercut which sent her flying over the heads of the group guarding Tazuna, he could only stand there and take the hit. All of this had occurred in two and a half seconds.

The genin and Kurenai saw the whole thing and gasped in alarm, Sakura bringing her hand to her face as she saw her team mate take a fatal blow. Zabuza was just as shocked, why would the boy save Haku and his own lives, they were the enemy. It just did not make sense to the nuke-nin, who staggered backwards as the ninken poofed into smoke. Remembering where he was, but still in awe of what had occurred, Zabuza could only speak in his usual bravado.

"My future is death? Seems…like you're wrong again Kakashi" he said, planning immediately to take advantage of Kakashi's surprise. Kakashi for his part was not listening, he was too busy gazing down at the fallen body of his student, the son of his own beloved sensei Namikaze Minato. "N…Naruto?" he asked, suddenly feeling very weak inside.

**Back at the Village**

Inari ran through the streets of the village until he reached his intended destination. Banging on the door he cried as loud as he could "Giichi! Giichi open up! Come to the bridge with me! This time if we all go together, we can defeat Gato's mean, I know it!"

But all he got from the other side of the door was a tired "I'm sorry Inari…I don't want to fight anymore. Go home kid, go home to you mother and be happy to be alive. Even your father, the man everyone hailed as a hero, is gone. Mizurasen, the man who defended us years ago from attack was taken also. If we fight, there will be sacrifices. We don't want to lose anyone precious again…nobody wants to do anything they might regret."

Undaunted Inari replied "It's because of those things that we have to fight. I don't want any regrets either. I love my mom, grandpa, you Giichi-san, and everyone in this tiny country of ours. I have learnt that…you can't protect anything by being a cry baby!" before running off in the direction of his great-uncle Soun's.

Inside the house, Giichi lent against his door, worry playing across his face. He turned to his wife who was busy sewing, who spoke without needing a question "Inari has finally become a man. Are you really going to let him go alone?" before going silent. Giichi just looked at the floor hard, before making up his mind what to do.

Some time later back at Tazuna's house, Inari was busy tightening his shoe laces as his mother argued with him. "You can't go to the bridge alone!!" Tsunami yelled, unwilling to see her child go into danger.

"But I went throughout the whole town, and nobody else wants to come save Uncle Soun. I have no choice" Inari argued back, getting up and walking towards the door, which had been replaced with hastily nailed together wooden planks. The spaces around the door which had been cut apart had been repaired in a similar fashion.

"But you're just a child!" Tsunami said desperately. Inari stopped at the doorway and replied with conviction, "Maybe I am just a child…but I know what it means to fight…because I am my father son." At that moment, Tsunami could not help but have a vision of the man they had all loved, Kaiza. Inari continued on his way and opened the door, and was shocked by what he saw on the other side.

**The Bridge**

Kakashi looked down at Naruto, tears falling from his eyes at the sight of his fallen student. He saw the hole in Naruto's chest that he had created, and looked at his bloody hand in horror and disgust. He bent down to touch Naruto's cheek; it felt cold…the boy was dead. He then looked up and saw Zabuza bringing his sword towards him while he sat there grieving, and anger filled Kakashi with righteous strength.

"I don't know why he did it, but in the end I don't really care. Haku, you played your part, and you too kid. Thanks for giving me this opportunity, to kill the legendary shinobi Kakashi!" Zabuza crowed, bringing his sword down to strike at the silver haired Konoha-nin. Leaping backwards with Naruto's body in his arms, Kakashi easily avoided the swing of the large blade, which smashed into the ground with enough force to destroy a slab.

Carefully placing Naruto onto the floor and closing his open eyes, Kakashi looked at Zabuza, his sharingan eye appearing to glow with inner fire. As Zabuza charged at him, Kakashi roared a battle cry which stopped the nuke-nin in his tracks. All Zabuza saw was a blur before feeling a hard thud into his mid-section, Kakashi landing a powerful kick sending the shinobi flying.

Sakura meanwhile looked down at Naruto, tears welling in her eyes. Recognising what must be done Kurenai turned to Kiba and Shino "Kiba! Shino! Find Sasuke and Hinata and bring them here. If we act quickly then no more lives will be lost!" she barked at her genin subordinates, who looked up from Naruto's bloody body and nodded. As Sakura rushed forwards and buried her face in her team mates' jacket, Kiba and Shino snaked past the fighting Zabuza and Kakashi. Feeling Naruto's face Sakura flinched, Tazuna turning away from the sight of as dead child. "He's cold…this…this isn't an illusion" she said between sobs.

"Don't hold back on my account…its okay to cry Sakura" Tazuna said comfortingly.

"I…I was always the best student at the Shinobi Academy. I scored 100 on all the exams, I even memorised each of the one thousand shinobi sayings. I remember one coming up on the test, 'Write down Shinobi saying number 25'. I wrote it down perfectly…'No matter what situation…a shinobi must keep emotions on the inside. You must make the mission your top priority…And you must possess a heart that never shows tears'…" she said, as tears flowed down her face. "…Naruto!" she cried out, flinging her arms around her dead friend.

Meanwhile as Sakura wept, Kakashi was busy overwhelming Zabuza. He had already taken out one arm by stabbing it in the armpit with a kunai, and now he was easily avoided all of Zabuza's one handed sword slashes. 'Dammit…why can't I keep up with him' Zabuza fumed, lashing out wildly in an attempt to get to his opponent. Kakashi simply dodged before catching Zabuza with a wicked backhand cross. His head reeling, Zabuza tried one last attack, roaring as he brought his Kubikiri Hocho around to cleave his prey in two. But all he hit was air, as Kakashi laid one hand on his good shoulder.

"You should have learnt by now, it was over the moment I became your opponent. Every trick you have pulled I have beaten, and now you're in barely any state to fight at all…" Kakashi said, trying to force his anger back where it came from. He had succumbed for long enough, it was time he behaved like a proper shinobi. "…And besides, haven't you noticed by now our new arrival?"

Zabuza looked over towards the end of the bridge, and narrowed his eyes in hate at what he saw. The sound of a cane smacking down onto the stony bridge heralded the arrival of someone, who just so happened to be Gato himself. Standing cock sure in front of a small legion of petty crooks and mercenaries he kept in his employ, all of them killers, with a cast over his right forearm. "My my Zabuza, it looks like you're getting your ass kicked. How…disappointing…" the slimy little man said with a sneer.

"Gato, what are you doing here?!" Zabuza demanded, ignoring the pain from his useless arm.

"…Oh this, well it's a slight change of plan. Actually it was the plan all along, but enough of that. I am going to have you killed here and now…I never planned on paying you any money. Hiring a normal shinobi from a village is so expensive, and they might betray me…so I turn to nuke-nin such as yourself, so easy to take care of afterwards. I have the shinobi battle it out, and then I finish the off when they're weak with superior numbers. It doesn't cost me anything, good plan eh? The only problem this time around was you Zabuza…the fabled 'Demon of the Mist' what a joke. You're nothing but a teeny little devil waiting to be squashed, you're pathetic!"

Tazuna, Kurenai and Sakura retreated behind Naruto's body, missing the small tremors and twitches being made by the dead boy. Meanwhile Zabuza looked over at Kakashi and sighed "Kakashi, it would appear our fight is over. I have no reason to kill Tazuna, so I have no reason to fight you."

Kakashi nodded, watching as Gato strode forwards to look down at the unconscious body of Haku. "Oh yeah, I owe this one…" he said, looking down at the girl with venom "…you squeezed my arm till it broke you little shit…" and with those words the little man delivered a brutal kick to the unconscious Haku's head "…you'll be the first to die, and you cant do a thing about it!!"

A deep growl emanated from Zabuza as he watched his apprentice he violated in such a way. Gripping his sword, with which he had fought and killed countless times before, Zabuza roared out "You insult a demon Gato, be prepared for his wrath!" before running towards the startled tycoon. Gato squealed in fear, running into the mob of men and pushing his way to the back. "What are you waiting for kill him!" he cried out to his men, you looked at the charging shinobi with smirks. He was still wounded, and they had numbers on their side.

"You're mine GATO!!" Zabuza yelled, but he only got another foot forwards, before he and everyone else on the bridge finally felt the chakra.

When he felt Kakashi's attack hit him, Naruto only had a moment of pain before everything went cold. It was a strange feeling, his body and head feeling light as a feather. As he mumbled his words at his sensei, and fell to the ground, he felt nothing. Only a dimming blackness that eventually swallowed his field of vision until there was nothing but dark. He heard voices around him, but they were fuzzy. He could feel his spirits grip on his body slipping away, pity, he would never find out if his destiny was real or not. He did not feel Sakura's tears onto his face, or Kakashi close his eyes in reverence. He could only think 'So, this is how I die. Pretty damn good death, saving a lives, beating four enemies one after the other…I'd say I earn't my way.'

Within its prison, the Kyuubi tired frantically to heal his container, but the boy was letting go faster than he could build chakra. Everything began to be swallowed in darkness, and for the first time in several thousand years, the Kyuubi no Kitsune was reminded how fragile mortality is.

Naruto was ready to let go, to join his ancestors, his mother and father in the spirit realm, the place he himself had created, Shinzui Hashi. But then he heard a word, a word which reminded him of a promise he made to a man that should have been very close to him in life. Gato, the man who had taken his last living relative from him was here. And just like that his grip on reality was back with quite literally a vengeance, and that was all the Kyuubi needed to pour its chakra into its Jinchuriki's body. Needless to say, in its excitement at being given another chance at some form of life, it poured into Naruto a little too much.

The chakra came like a tsunami upon an innocent shore, suddenly and without remorse. All present on the bridge be they shinobi or not felt the chakra, the dark evil chakra, and were paralysed on the spot. Then they heard a voice snarl "No…he's MINE!!"

Uzumaki Naruto, whom everyone had believed to be dead, stood up, the whole in his chest visible healing for all to see. Bone, muscle, organs and flesh, all were created anew until all that was left of the wound was scar tissue that would remain until the boys dying day. His hair was wild, his whisker marks thick, his nails sharp and his eyes a terrifying blood red. His katana was out in the blink of an eye, and with a growl Naruto sped forwards. Past a shocked Zabuza, past an unconscious Haku, he sped for his target, the man he WOULD kill, Gato.

As the effects of the sudden onslaught of dark chakra wore off, and everyone just stood gaping at the spectacle. The shinobi that is, Gato's mercenaries grinned and laughed at the small boy running towards them with just an angry face and a sword. "Hey…" one pointed out laughing "…it's just a littleurgh!"

He never had time to finish his sentence, as Naruto's sword cleaved right through his waist cutting the amazed man in two. Like a rapid ripple, the mercenaries fear magnified at the sight of one of their 'comrades' being killed so gruesomely. The tried to attack, but all they got was a massacre. Naruto hacked his way through the crowd, severing limbs and cleaving bodies with every blow. In the space of twenty seconds he had cleared a bloody path through over half of the men, his sword and limbs slick with blood. After slicing one mans head from his shoulders, Naruto jumped onto his headless corpse and vaulted into the air, twirling his sword in his hands until he held it like a javelin.

With a fierce cry, he hurled it at Gato at an angle, with such force that it sent his body somersaulting through the air for a couple of quick seconds until he righted himself. The katana flew down at the terrified Gato like a divine spear from heaven itself, and impacted with such force that it almost went straight through his body. Stabbing two inches into the ground, the katana had shish-kebabed the greedy tycoon. It went through his body at an angle, entering at the shoulder and going down through the upper half of the heart and the left lung and out the other end, the blade was buried up to the hilt.

Gato choked as he felt blood and bile rise up his throat, but his death was not finished yet. Naruto appeared before him, his eyes burning red and his body shrouded in an evil scarlet chakra, looking every part a demon of old. "Remember to pray Gato…for there shall be no dawn for you!" Naruto roared, pulling the sword from the ground and through Gato's body with a casual tug of his right hand. Blood squirted from both the entry and exit wound like a fountain, and Naruto gave the dying tycoon one almighty kick, sending him into the air.

Stabbing his katana into the bridge where it stuck firm, Naruto gathered his dark chakra for one purpose. Mingling it with the air around his hands and crafting the condensed air into the shapes he saw fit, Naruto made three cutting motions with his hands. "Fuuton! Katto Kaze Ken!!" he screamed, sending three thin blades of coalescing wind at the doomed man.

As he flew through the air, Gato's last memory was of the strangest of things, a guy he had had executed months ago for standing up to him and defending the villagers. 'What was that guys name…Mizurasen? He…said those same words…fuck' was all he thought, as the three flying blades of wind struck, and the three bloody pieces that once were Gato fell into the water beneath the bridge, food for the fishes. Which a sharp tug Naruto pulled his bloody katana from the stone of the bridge. Turning and facing the remainder of the mod that Gato had hired, he simply snarled, bearing lengthened animal like teeth. The group as a whole recoiled, then watched in shock as Naruto's body returned to normal and finally collapsed.

The Konoha group as well as Zabuza looked in awe at the spectacle they had witnessed, one super human genin literally obliterating their opposition. What was left was a fragment of scared survivors eying warily an unconscious twelve year old boy. "Kurenai-sensei, look who we have here!" came a voice from behind them all, and, turning to face the voice, they saw Shino and Kiba walking towards them holding a weary looking Sasuke and Hinata respectively. Sakura smiled at the sight of her team mate and her friend safe, she had not know what had happened to them.

Kurenai and Sakura moved to take Sasuke and Hinata from Shino and Kiba, and the whole group smiled as the ordeal was finally over. Or so they thought, as the rabble of scared mercenaries finally bluffed enough courage to snowball into annoyance and anger, brandishing their weapons with murder in their eyes. "Don't get too complacent…" one of the yelled "You killed our meal ticket…now we're going to pillage this town…and take everything of value!"

They began to charge at the disparaged group of shinobi and nuke-nin, but for a single arrow hitting the ground before them they might have overwhelmed the Konohagakure citizens. They followed the trajectory of the arrow, and found it led to a large group of angry islanders led by a crossbow wielding Inari. "If you set foot on this island, the citizens of this country will stop you with everything we've got" Soun yelled, glaring at the bandits and mercenaries.

"Yeah! Beat it ya snot nosed bastards!" yelled Shibumi, waving his cane above his head menacingly.

The bandits paled at the sudden show of solidarity among the islanders, and quickly turned tail and made for their moored boat, ignoring the unconscious Naruto and Haku in their panic. The villagers cheered as their union paid off, and they moved forwards to aid whoever they could. Kakashi wearily pulled his hitai-ate over his sharingan eye and walked over to Naruto, looking down at the silent boy in careful wonder. 'To take a hit from a Raikiri…to physically but still keep on fighting. Minato-sensei, your son is a truly amazing boy, worthy of your name…and someday, maybe the title of Hokage' he thought, bending down to pick up the boy in his arms.

Zabuza looked at the boy with continued amazement, stopping Kakashi and moving close to the mans ear. "Kakashi…just who is this boy?" he asked, genuinely wanting to know. "He is Uzumaki Naruto of Konohagakure no Sato. He is the son of Uzumaki Kushina of Uzumaki no Kuni, and Namikaze Minato the Yondaime Hokage of Konohagakure no Sato. He is the Jinchuriki of the Kyuubi no Kitsune…and he is the most awe inspiring boy I have ever met" Kakashi replied, whispering with pride in his voice, his eye telling Zabuza that he was not lying.

Zabuza looked at the floor, everything suddenly making sense. Shouldering his massive blade painfully due to his one wounded arm, Zabuza moved over to the unconscious Haku. Shaking the girl a little, he waited for her to wake up. "Za…buza-sama?" she said warily, unsure if she were alive or in heaven.

"You did well today Haku, you and Tsugime both. We lost to worthy and honourable opponents…and I am proud of you both" Zabuza said, offering his protégé a hand getting up. Haku carefully rose, a quiet joy filling her at her master's praise. The events of the battle suddenly played themselves quickly within her mind, and she looked over at the sleeping Naruto. 'He…saved my life? Thank you…Naruto-kun. You have shown me that there is more to life than fighting endlessly, and I will strive to make Zabuza acknowledge me as more than a tool' she thought, before supporting her teacher and slowly walking towards the island mob.

**Two Weeks Later**

With Gato gone work began once more on the Bridge, and before long the mighty feat of engineering was complete. The villagers held a festival in honour of the event, thanking the Konoha shinobi for their efforts in helping to restore their land. One shinobi was not present, perhaps the most important out of the group, Naruto, who lay in a deep sleep for ten days. He was watched by the reluctant quintuple of nuke-nin, Zabuza, Haku, Tsugime and the Demon Brothers, who kept in doors and avoided the festivities. Oddly enough, it was the Demon Brothers who kept the most watch over the sleeping boy, guarding him as if they were guarding a family member.

Sasuke also took turns watching over Naruto. The Uchiha sat by the blonde's side, gazing at him intently. 'Naruto…you fought and defeated not just the nuke-nin, but all of those bandits as well. And you killed Gato, freeing this land from tyranny. And all I did was get my ass handed to me by a shinobi who is no longer my enemy. You have set the bar pretty high Naruto, but I promise you I shall equal you. When I can do that, I shall be one step closer to my goal…perhaps.'

The day he woke up, Naruto asked to be taken to the graveyard at the behest of the worried Tsunami who thought he should rest some more. With his new entourage of exiled shinobi, Naruto made his way to his uncle's grave and bid a final farewell to a man he had known only as 'Mizurasen', watching his spirit fade into the afterlife with a smile on his face.

After the two weeks were up, the group was ready to return back to Konoha. Kakashi and Kurenai offered Zabuza and his group clemency and protection within Konoha's walls, which Zabuza accepted after much cajoling from his underlings. The group stood at the foot of the bridge ready to go, facing the gathered villagers who had come to see them all off. "You helped us finally complete the bridge…thank you, all of you" Tazuna said, his hand placed on a tearful Inari's head.

Naruto looked at the kid and smiled "Hey Inari, remember, its okay to cry when you're happy!"

Inari looked back and shouted "I'm not going to cry anymore, remember, but you can cry if you want Naruto!"

Naruto just tilted his head and turned to face the other direction, a small tear sliding down one eye. With a wave he bid farewell to the island and its people, followed by the rest of the party. Tazuna looked at his friends and smiled as he watched the group leave. "That boy gave Inari courage, and Inari in turn brought courage to the people. That boy gave us a bridge to 'hope' called 'courage'…"

It was Shibumi who piped up, a little more sombre after learning about his adopted son's spirit finally being allowed to rest. "So what are you going to call the bridge Tazuna?"

"…Oh yeah…how about…The Great Naruto Bridge" the old man said with a beaming grin.

Shibumi turned and watched the boy walking away "…Yeah…perfect."

**Authors Notes**

Oh my freaking GOD. I posted this thing, half of the chapter about two weeks ago, and I have been steadily working on it since. The largest chapter ever! I damn near doubled the original posting of just over 15000 words. We have a 30000 word chapter people, and what a chapter. I must say I am pretty pleased to finally be able to write this, it has been sitting in my mind since this fic began, but then so has so much else MWAHAHAHAHAHA! Ahem, but as fight scenes go, I hope everyone likes the Naruto smack down, I am trying my hardest to make it believable. Just enough detail, the rest left to imagination, just picture it in your minds, I know I do!

So what is coming next? Are we jumping straight into the Chuunin exams hm? Not for two chapters we aren't, as I begin my first original arc, the Journey to Kusagakure! Naruto will be learning some pretty neat things, some more questions will be answered, and more wonderful OC's will be introduced. I think I did pretty well with Tsugime, bar the original teething problems with her name almost a year ago.

As for my situation, I thank everyone for their sympathy it was very heart warming. But I have decided to bite the bullet and stay in my flat full time throughout the summer (barring a small holiday to Boston in early September) meaning I have regular internet and computer access once again. And with a little more time on my hands, that hopefully means more time to write…but I am still needing to get a job so we shall see. Never mind that my internet access is on campus and I live in the town, never mind I have to walk up a massive great (and steep!) hill to get there, I shall feel the burn to bring you more Naruto!

Oh, and I would like to say this once and for all. There will be no pairings in THIS story. I say this story because Legacy of the Hokages is just part I of the manga…it's a ways off but there will be a part II…and more I can assure you. But for now I see no point in pairing up twelve and thirteen year olds to make people happy, they can talk without a relationship being inferred. Save romance for the Shippuden stuff (maybe), leave it from this story.

Well that's about it from me. Work on the mew chapter will continue apiece, and sorry for jilting people as I 're-release' this chapter, I just want you to get the message quicker. Later, Lysander45.

**Jutsu List**

**Tsubaki no Mae** – Dance of the Camelia

**Yanagi no Mae** – Dance of the Willow

**Sawarabi no Mae** – Dance of the Seedling Ferns

**Karamatsu no Mae** – Dance of the Larch

**Hijutsu! Mushidama** – Secret Technique! Insect Globe

**Fuuton! Katto Kaze Ken** – Wind Style! Cutting Wind Blades

**Hijutsu! Sensatsu Suisho** – Secret technique! Thousand Flying Water Needles of Death

**Hijutsu! Makyo Hyo Sho** – Secret Technique! Demonic Ice Mirrors

**Jyukenjutsu! Shugohakke Rokujuyon Sho** – Gentle Fist Technique! Protection of the Eight Trigrams Sixty Four Palms

**Hijutsu! Makyo Hyo Pagoda** – Secret technique! Demonic Ice Pagoda

**Mushi Bunshin** – Bug Clone

**Kyuuten Kaze Kusho** – Heavens Wind Empty Palm

**Kyuuten Kaihousho! Washi no Koi** – Heavens Wind Open Palm! Way of the Eagle

**Kuchiyose! Doton! Tsuiga no Jutsu** – Summoning! Earth Style! Tracking Fang technique

**Raikiri** – Lightning Blade

**Otooji-dono** – Honourable Uncle


	12. Chapter 11: Emissary of the Leaf, Part 1

**Naruto Legacy of the Hokages**

**By Lysander45**

**Disclaimer:** I do not and never will own Naruto, no matter how much I want too. Any and all characters, jutsu and places that I create are mine; if you want to use them please ask permission.

" Speech

' Thoughts

() Jutsu translations/authors voice/usual use for brackets that I cannot be bothered to describe

Italic memories/writing/Spirit voice

Bold emphasis on word

… Pause during speech

**Chapter 11 – Emissary of the Leaf**

"So that is what happened…" hummed Sarutobi as he reviewed the mission debriefing. "…Well Kakashi, Kurenai, all things considered I would call this mission a success. Both of your teams succeeded in guarding Tazuna and Soun on their way to Nami no Kuni, despite the attacks from Zabuza and his men. And what's more, they both reacted efficiently in protecting the clients as the situation escalated to your afore mentioned skirmish on the bridge. You should be proud of your genin; they all persevered in upholding the honour of Konoha and demonstrating our military capabilities, which should send out considerable messages to our neighbouring countries."

The two jonin nodded from their positions in front of the desk. Since returning to Konoha a couple of hours ago the pair had been in an extensive debriefing session with the Sandaime over their previously believed C-rank mission to Nami no Kuni, the land of waves. Said mission had quickly risen to an A-rank with the appearance of a renowned nuke-nin from Kirigakure no Sato named Momochi Zabuza, and though it had been successful there were certain ramifications resulting from the finished mission that needed to be cleared with their leader, namely the fact that said nuke-nin was now residing within Konoha.

"Kakashi, why did you offer Zabuza clemency within the village's borders. Surely you realize the affects such a decision would come with? In diplomacy alone the ramifications could be dire. I am going to have the Mizukage breathing down my neck if he discovers that we are sheltering several rogue shinobi from his village" the old Hokage asked. There was a long pause as he patiently waited for a response.

Kakashi looked at the sky outside of the office windows and thought very carefully before responding to his leader. "With all respect Hokage-sama, I have done nothing but think on the consequences of asking Zabuza to come with us to Konoha, and I believe that if we are careful with this situation it could work out to the advantage of the village. As we all know, nuke-nin like Zabuza are created when they experience a disagreement with their superiors, which snowballs into the situation when the shinobi leaves the village permanently. Shinobi like Zabuza leave with vital secrets contained within their bodies and minds, which is why they are hunted down so diligently by their former village's hunter shinobi…"

"…As a village we are now presented with an opportunity. For months now our border patrols have been reporting large increases in activity from the other four great nations, whose leaders have become increasingly more terse and enclosed when asked even the simplest of questions concerning military matters. They can all sense something building, a pressure between the nations that merely needs a small catalyst to burst. My case in point would be the new village that has raised itself within Ta no Kuni, Otogakure. The first new foreign military presence to appear in the last three decades…"

"…In Zabuza and his followers we have the opportunity to bolster our ranks and gain great tactical knowledge on at least one of our neighbours, which in the event of war would be of great use. Provided we keep them low key in assignments, avoiding any confrontation with personnel from Kirigakure I believe they can all be of great use to the village" Kakashi finished his speech, hoping it would be enough to convince the Sandaime.

Swivelling his chair to gaze out of the window, Sarutobi sat in silence for several long minutes. "I see your point Kakashi, and I have no doubt you have the village's best interests at heart. Even so, do you believe Zabuza would be willing to take orders from another having enjoyed freedom for so long. If we were to accept him as an ally, what's to say history repeats itself and he attempts a coup inside Konoha?"

Kakashi thought for a moment and then smiled. "I do not believe that would happen Hokage-sama. It's hard to explain, but I believe a change has occurred within Zabuza and his underlings. It began on the bridge at Nami no Kuni, and has been gradually accelerating as we travelled here."

"And what is that change?" the old Hokage enquired.

"Naruto" Kakashi replied with pride in his voice, for he was proud. He had been fortunate to witness what he now believed was the birth of something great, a once in a lifetime saga that starts with a whimper before evolving into a roar.

The Sandaime smiled as he understood what Kakashi was saying. "Ah yes, Naruto. I read your report on his…actions…during this mission, and I must say at first I believed that what I was reading was the embellished words of an overly proud sensei. But after talking with Kurenai…" he gestured to the jonin who nodded in affirmation "…I have recognise the truth. It is true that Naruto almost single handedly fought and defeated four shinobi of chuunin class, two bearing powerful kekkai genkai, as well as wiping out twenty seven hired mercenaries and their contractor Gato…one after another."

Kakashi nodded "As crazy as it sounds, yes that is exactly what happened. After the battle was over and we had tended to the others injuries, Kurenai and I examined Naruto as best we could, and what we found was shocking to say the least. Sarutobi-san, he was running on empty before he even got to the bridge. His fight against the Demon Brothers had resulted in a major concussion, extreme bruising and chakra depletion, he had a two broken rib's yet he kept moving. After battling the Kaguya girl Tsugime his stamina was completely spent and his chakra reserves were on the verge of fatal chakra exhaustion…"

"…Not long after returning, doctors at the hospital confirmed traces of no less than six hyorogan pills, all class A with an added coagulant and inhibitor chemical for injury relief. He had to take these to just keep moving. After this, he fought Haku and somehow pushed his body fast enough to intercept my Raikiri and save the girls life. Without his intervention she would have taken the full brunt of the attack and would have died within moments…" the memory made Kakashi cringe. Sarutobi could see the anguish in the young man's features, he had still not forgiven himself for striking his pupil, even if it was an accident in combat.

"And that was when the chakra of the Kyuubi no Kitsune took over his body?" Sarutobi said gravely. All present knew the consequences of such an occurrence, the first sign of the weakening of the Yondaime's amazing seal.

"The chakra was so evil, the pressure it exerted on our bodies was immense…" Kurenai supplied, the memory sending shivers down her spine. "…Fuelled by that chakra, Naruto became a different person, power driven by nothing but rage and bloodlust."

"That was all the Kyuubi ever was Kurenai, power driven by rage and the desire to kill. And trust me when I tell you that what you saw on the bridge was not Naruto, it was the fox. It waited for the precise moment, when Naruto's life was slipping away, when his will was at its weakest, it used that moment to force open its prison a small fraction. It may have saved Naruto's life, using its immense chakra to heal his wounds, but at the price of pushing aside the boys rational thought and making him into nothing but a vessel" Sarutobi intoned, taking heavy breathes from his pipe to calm himself. He cared deeply for that boy, like he cared for the entire village's citizens, and hearing of his pain made him hurt inside.

Kakashi continued his explanation, "I don't know how, but witnessing Naruto sacrifice himself to save his life affected Zabuza deeply. The same goes for the Demon Brothers, Tsugime and Haku. Fighting Naruto, witnessing his determination and strength, it's as if for the first time in their lives they saw a light through the darkness. Something that made them think, made them confront the past which made them into killers. By being near Naruto, they have placed themselves on a path that I could only call 'salvation'."

The Sandaime hummed, before looking at the door behind the jonin. "Then I believe your choice was for the best Kakashi. You are both dismissed, though I would like to meet these five shinobi myself. Where are they currently?" he asked.

Kakashi smiled from behind his mask and replied "Moving into their new home at the Namikaze compound"

Taking another inhaling puff from his pipe, Sarutobi breathed out a long plume of smoke. "Are they now…good" he mumbled, a smile adorning his wizened face.

**The Namikaze compound**

The afore mentioned quintuple of rogue shinobi were currently standing at the gates of Naruto's home, gazing in awe at the apparent opulence of their host. After returning to the village Naruto had offered the group lodgings within his clans estate, since he technically owned several empty houses it seemed a shame to not use them. "You…live here?" Haku asked incredulously, as Naruto led them through the gates and along the garden path to his home.

Looking at his mother's house with a happy smile, Naruto turned to his reply to his guest's. "Hard to believe but, yeah, this place is mine. Whole compound is mine actually, but then that's what you get for being the last of your clan. Inheritance tends to pile up with the body count…" he said, leading the group through the main hall and into the first floor receiving room.

"…Now here are the rules. I am offering you rooms within my house to stay until you find your own accommodation within the village. There are several guest rooms that you can pick from, but your level of comfort will only be absolute within those rooms and those rooms only. If I find anything missing, or find any of you going through my belongings without permission, heads will quite literally roll. Other than that you have access to the gardens, the temple and the dojo, and you can come and go as you please. Are these ground rules satisfactory?" Naruto asked, his eyebrow raised questioningly.

"I suppose we have no choice…" Zabuza replied with a mock sigh "…I imagine our movements are going to be monitored by ANBU at all times, given our…temperamental reputations."

"Only when you are outside of the compound, within its boundaries you are under my watch. Only when I am away on missions or shinobi related duties will the ANBU be allowed to set foot on my clans land…at least that is the arrangement I hope to have with the Hokage. Sandaime-jiji is a nice enough old coot, and he's respected my privacy so far" Naruto said with a grin. The taciturn shinobi simply hummed in amusement, before Naruto led the group to the guest rooms on the second floor of the mansion sized building.

Gozu and Miezu chose a large double room which, strangely enough happened to be directly underneath Naruto's own room on the third floor. The pair seemed oddly delighted in their own way when Naruto mentioned this fact in passing. Zabuza chose a similarly large room, with Tsugime and Haku moving into the rooms that flanked it. After seeing that they were content, Naruto quickly left them alone, creating five Kage Bunshin to monitor them from the rafters between floors. Doubtless they would sense the bunshins presence, but Naruto needed to hammer home how serious he was about keeping an eye on them.

It was only when he was within his own room that Naruto finally allowed himself a chance to relax a little. Falling back onto his bed, Naruto finally allowed the stress of the mission wash away. Yes after his…disposal…of Gato, peace in Nami no Kuni was a given, but when abroad in a foreign environment a shinobi always had to be ready for anything. It was only when they were within their village, within their home, that they could be at peace.

"I think I'll try to talk to oyaji again, we haven't spoken since before the battle in Nami no Kuni" Naruto muttered from his reclined position. To be honest his absence from his self created (and now fully autonomous) bridging dimension was not a willing one. He had tried many times in the weeks since the great struggle to enter Shinzui Hashi, but had each time found his spiritual connection pushed back, as if the world was lashing back at him like a roiling tide. Fortunately for Naruto, this time he tentatively probed the boundaries of Shinzui Hashi and found no such turbulence. The violent sea's had calmed, to coin the phrase. 'Oyaji, you there!' he mentally called out into the gloom, waiting patiently for a response.

'Hai, what took you so long Naruto, it's been weeks since you last updated me on everything. Did you nearly die or something?' came the response from the ethereal Yondaime. From his relaxed position Naruto felt his eye tick slightly at the man's accusation, before in the time it takes a person to blink he emerged spiritually within the vast other world between life and death.

**Shinzui Hashi**

"Yo" was all the Yondaime said as he witnessed his son appear. There was silence for a couple of minutes. He watched in curiosity as Naruto said nothing. The boy walked towards his father, took a deep breath, and with a terrific slam kicked him full force between the legs. Such was the speed of the move, a small sonic boom crackled through the air.

The man hit the ground seconds later and began a lengthy tirade of moaning and swearing, curse words that would make a sailor blanch being spewed from his mouth. Ignoring the cursing, Naruto picked his father up by the scruff of the neck and began his own rant.

"Baka Oyaji! It's been over two weeks since we last saw each other and all you can say is 'Yo'. Do you know what I have been through, do you?! I fought not one, not two, not three but four individual battles, each tiring the crap out of me with their own flavour of injuries, I get stabbed through the chest by Kakashi-sensei's ration jutsu, my heart reduced to pulp thus officially ending my life for the first time and giving the bastard Kyuubi as chance to weaken its seal, and all you have to say to me is 'Yo'!!" Naruto screamed, spittle flying from his angry mouth.

"Well I didn't know that you dumbass so why did you see fit to kick me in between the freakin legs! Do you know what sort of permanent damage you could have done!!" the equally incensed older man yelled back.

"You're a ghost, it's not like the plumbing on your corpse is going to take a beating is it!!" Naruto replied.

"What do you know about being a spirit, for your information your mother and I have a very healthy sex life thank you very much. We can grind our fucking gears from dusk till fucking dawn if we choose to! So what if technically nothing's going to come from it physically, it all feels the same which is why my jewels are currently singing the pain equivalent of Beethoven's fucking 5th Symphony you little blonde bastard!!" the frenzied man howled back.

The remarks stopped Naruto in his tracks as he deadpanned. 'I so did not need to here that' he thought as he dropped his father to the floor with a thump. Shaking a little as he rose, Minato took some panting breaths forcing back the throbbing pain from his private area. "Okay, you seem a little tense. So why don't you stop and tell me exactly what happened. You were in a battle obviously, but now you are fine. So start from the beginning…" he said, which is exactly what Naruto did.

After finishing his update on the battle on Tazuna's bridge, the passing on of his uncle and the strange consequences that were Zabuza and companies relocation to Konohagakure. After finishing, he waited for his father to finish digesting everything in his usual 'eyes closed arms crossed nod every now and then' thinking pose. During this pause, Naruto took a cursory look around to see where he actually was.

'Where in the…' he thought as his eyes wandered all around him, he even did a 360 degree move to take in everything. He and his father were standing in a vast courtyard for a seemingly large temple of some sort. The buildings were all in varying degrees of decline, overcome by time and nature. Roof tiles were covered in moss, plants sprung up between cracks in the stone tiles beneath Naruto's feet, and tree's surrounded everything. They were in the middle of a forest of some kind, judging by the foliage a forest in Ho no Kuni. As he looked, a feeling began to seep into Naruto's bones, a feeling of reverence. This place was old, very old, and before he knew it Naruto was becoming lost in its aura, his father's reply falling on deaf ears.

"Naruto? Are you listening to me?" Minato asked, noticing his son's attention deficit midway during his reply speech. Naruto only realized he was being spoken too when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked to see his father giving him a curious expression, "You feel it too huh?" was all he heard.

"Where are we?" Naruto said, his mind still reeling from the strange feelings he was getting just standing in this hallowed place.

"Welcome…" a voice called out from beyond the tree's "…to Seidou temple, ancestral home of the Senju clan of the Forest, Uzumaki Naruto." Both Naruto and his father turned to see who was addressing them both, and Naruto at least was perplexed when he saw both the Shodaime and the Nidaime Hokages emerging from the trees.

In the presence of such figure heads of history, Naruto could not help but lower his head in a small but curt bow. "Shodaime-san, Nidaime-san" he said quietly. He looked up when he got a hearty laugh as his reply, and was surprised to the point of flinching to find the Shodaime, Senju Hashirama, placing his hand on his shoulder.

"There is no need to be so formal Naruto-san. Tobirama and I were Hokages that is true, but our titles died as we did. Here, in this amazing place, I ask that you refer to us by our forenames" the older man said with a benevolent smile on his face.

Naruto looked to one side a little sheepishly, "Gomen, it's just after all the stuff I was taught at the Academy…well you are sort of legendary. I guess I just get a little blown away sometimes by the fact that I am actually able to talk to you guys in…person" he said, scratching his face in a vague attempt to lighten his own personal mood.

"The Shinobi Academy was one of the institutions forged during your reign as Hokage, was it not Tobirama-san?" Minato asked, hoping a turn in conversation would give his son time to calm his nerves. He knew Naruto's feelings when it came to talking to some of the people he had met. Icons of history, sentient and for all extents and purposes within this realm, living and breathing right before his eyes, no wonder he was at times intimidated.

"Yes…" replied Tobirama "…during my brothers tenure as the Shodaime Hokage, the village was quite literally a newborn, the first of its kind born from the strife of the last age. By the time the mantle of Hokage was passed on to myself, other lands and other shinobi clans had copied Konohagakure in forming one shinobi village per land, and a steady peace came to exist. I capitalized on that peace by using my power to create new institutions and groups. The Ansatsu Senjutsu Tokushu Butai, the Shinobi Academy, the Konoha Kaimu Butai, the Shinobi Hospital, as a village we needed select specialized groups such as these to protect and maintain the well being of the village. And when I passed on the title to Sarutobi, he inherited the fruit of the seeds my brother and I had sown."

Naruto listened intently to every word the man said. Like any student to graduate from the Academy he knew the history, but to hear it from the men who shaped it was altogether different to reading about it in faded text books. Taking some deep breaths to cool his nervousness, Naruto finally felt able to ask the men the obvious question, "So, why are you here Hashirama-san, Tobirama-san?"

"To begin your training of course…" came the reply, not from the Senju brothers but from Minato, who clapped his on his son's shoulders with a beaming smile. "…Although we adults may appear apathetic in the wake of some of your achievements, your victories, I assure you Naruto that we are all thoroughly impressed. In the few months since the Shinten Koyou Fuin activated, and with it the full birth of Shinzui Hashi, your progress has been astounding. You have displayed mastery of skills that men or women twice your age struggle to refine. You have effectively mastered a taijutsu style that should take years of discipline to learn, you taught your body kenjutsu within a battle, and, most impressive of all, you successfully mastered the Fuusaishuu technique, a skill that dates back centuries before our time."

"Although we suspect that elemental affinity had some small part to play in your learning of the Fuusaishuu, it is still a milestone to be commended. As such, Hashirama and I decided to move forwards as the next sensei from our small group to impart on you training and knowledge. We received word from Hizashi that his tenure as your sensei was effectively finished, and that we were free to approach you when next you entered this place" Tobirama said, giving a small smile at look of wonderment on Naruto's face.

"Your training with us shall begin when you next enter this place. It shall take place here, within the spiritual duplicate of our ancestral home. Both Tobirama and I shall be present at first to explain what we shall be teaching you, but after that encounter our lessons shall alternate to give you time to train in the physical realm. Does this arrangement meet your approval, Naruto-san?" Hashirama continued after his brother's pause.

Naruto, bowled over by the news, could only nod meekly and stutter "H…Hai, it does Hashirama-san, Tobirama-san."

"Very well, we shall take our leave then. Until next we meet, Uzumaki Naruto. Minato-san…" Hashirama said, giving the Yondaime a nod which was returned in kind. The pair turned and walked back across the square and into the surrounding forest, vanishing from sight. Looking at his son, Minato rolled his eyes at the dumbfounded expression on the boys face. Clicking several times to get his attention, Minato gazed at his son with pride.

"Things seem to be moving up for you huh. Those two are the sensei of old man Sarutobi, who was my sensei's sensei, so the ideology you may learn under Kakashi could have originally come from them. But don't be overwhelmed by all that they teach you, take everything in and use it. You are the bridge that joins the living with the dead. Through you much of what has been lost in the ravages of time can be regained, and used for the betterment of the world…" Minato said, ruffling his son's spiky hair much to Naruto's annoyance.

"…Now run along kid. Seems every time you come here for a casual conversation something big knocks you for six. Train hard, learn all you can and become your own man." Naruto smiled a little, before bidding his father goodbye and releasing his ties to the ethereal construct around him.

**Real World**

Opening his eyes with a smile on his face, Naruto stretched his body from its seated meditative position, cracking his neck and joints to relieve any pent up stress. 'Now what to do. Nothing seems to have happened whilst I was within Shinzui Hashi which is good; those guys seem to be actually behaving themselves' he thought, walking over to his window to look out at the gardens of his home. There were no flowers yet; he doubted that there would be for some time since he had only planted seeds and acorns a month ago. Shoots were showing, which he watered whenever he was home. Eventually, Naruto hoped that he could restore the garden to whatever former splendour it had attained during his mothers stay here.

On a whim, he decided to head down to the dojo to cut loose a little. A little physical exercise could do wonders in times of uncertainty, and after learning that his sensei spiritual sensei would be the Shodaime and Nidaime Naruto really felt like cutting loose. Slipping on a gi from his nearby wardrobe and picking up a small satchel containing some scrolls, Naruto opened his window, and with a calm sweeping motion threw himself out. Twisting in mid-air he landed crouched on both feet a fair distance from the house on part of a stone path, before vaulting again into the air. It took just one more jump to get to the dojo, and though Naruto knew he could have probably made it in one, he did not want to break any floorboards with the force of the initial kick-off.

Entering the dojo Naruto breathed in the familiar musty smell and took out one of the scrolls from within the satchel. It was the weapons scroll in which he carried his family's ancestral katana, a relic of his forebears. But this was not the weapon that he unsealed with a quick swipe of his bloody thumb. Out of the smoke Naruto picked up what appeared to be a sword within its sheath, but when he unsheathed it the single sword turned out to be twin Dao swords.

During his last bout of 'binge reading', where he spent literally hours feeding his addiction to reading books, scrolls and other forms of literature, Naruto had read through several scrolls on weapons techniques. It was during this period that he had read the scrolls on basic and advanced kenjutsu techniques, which he had used to spectacularly during his last mission to teach his body kenjutsu within the space of a single battle (and several subsequent training sessions). And since the mental technique used seemed so successful, it seemed stupid not to transfer its aptitudes to other forms of the physical arts.

But it was not a perfect process. A person cannot simply 'teach' themselves something as physically demanding as a martial art simply by memorizing the moves. Though Naruto was able to guide his body through the motions of what he remembered at incredible speeds, he still needed to be physically able to perform the manoeuvre. It was much the same, he had read, with the sharingan when an Uchiha witnessed taijutsu. Their eyes might be able to see the move, but their bodies needed to physically ready to perform the move before it became of any use to them.

This was the same with Naruto, though his brain could push his body into action beyond his physical parameters the process left his body fatigued, as he had discovered the night he talked with Kakashi-sensei about the purpose of a shinobi. But through training, practicing and repeating the manoeuvres outside of a battle situation, the after effects gradually disappeared and his body attuned itself to the new abilities. In a way it was exactly the same as regular training in taijutsu, the kind he knew Lee put himself through on a day to day basis. The only difference with Naruto's method was that he complicated things by learning all the moves at once mentally, rather than taking the time to master one after the other. Whatever worked really?

Case in point, the twin Dao swords he was currently holding in his hands. He went through a couple of practice swings, testing how they handled, how they cut through the air, how he should alter his performance to properly adhere to the blades weight and length. He had found the swords stored away in the dojo when he first moved into the estate. They were designed with special half circle guards designed to lock together when in the scabbard, giving the illusion that there is only one sword. Naruto had decided on the way back to Konoha that the first part of his continuing training, outside of what he was set by his spirit sensei, would be the learning and eventual mastery of the twin sword style detailed within one of the Uzumaki clan scrolls he had found within the house.

The style was called Shinkusousei or 'Deep Crimson Twins', and was based around a constant flowing movement taken from the movement of water. Sweeping attacks mimicked whirlpools and waves, and when in use a disciple of this style never stayed rooted to one spot, they swam around the opponent in a circular motion. Naruto had enjoyed reading the scroll, since it was part of the heritage of his namesake, and he loved the thought of using a style that his mother might have used when she was alive.

Naruto closed his eyes and began to picture the images from within his nigh on perfect memory, captured like a photograph in time the moment his eyes saw them. As image after image was played through his brain, like a slideshow, Naruto entrusted his body to the cascade of memories and began to repeat them. Like a waking dream, he felt his body move through the motions as if it were, for lack of a better term, possessed. Just like that time within Shinzui Hashi when he was talking to Hizashi-san, except this time he was aware of what was occurring.

As his body moved through the kata of the Shinkusousei style, Naruto became more and more aware of the process that was being followed from his brain to his body, like how a person sitting quietly by themselves may become more and more aware of a fly buzzing around them beyond their field of vision. Naruto followed the buzzing, and as the out of body experience deepened, the paths became crystal clear. It started at the seat of memory within his brain, now almost completely merged with the awakened Shinten Koyou Fuin seal. From there, like the flow of a river from its base in the mountains, the information flowed along the lines of his nervous system.

Curiously, a small indistinguishable flow of chakra accompanied these flows as they moved through his body to his limbs, his muscles. A shinobi's body was a finely tuned machine, chakra flowing through the keirakukie in time with the beating of the heart, the pumping of the lungs. As he followed the flow of information, he could feel his spirit being pulled somehow. Within his mind he was floating outside of his body, and a white light was radiating around him. The light grew brighter and brighter, until eventually it engulfed him completely.

Snapping back into reality, Naruto found himself once more mid-pose, this time with both blades running parallel to his body with his arms crossed over his chest, poised in an evisceration blow meant to literally cut and enemy into three pieces. Relaxing from the pose, his attention was caught by the sound of clapping from not that far away. His eyes narrowed slightly when he noticed the Kirigakure quintet relaxing in various positions at the entrance to the dojo's main practice room. Shielding his eyes from the sudden glare of sunlight from outside, Naruto shook his head and took a deep breath to clear the slight dizzy feeling from his senses. The brief spell cleared as quickly as it had arrived, and Naruto finally turned his attention to his guests. "How long have you been there?" he asked, spiralling the dao blades within his hands before joining them above the scabbard and sheathing them with a quite 'snikt'.

"Roughly twenty minutes if I had to guess. Nice idea with those Kage Bunshin by the way, though I must say the execution was a little off. We all noticed them the moment they appeared over us; it's such an obvious tactic to use" Zabuza said, shaking his head as if in dismay. Rolling his eyes, Naruto searched for the clones and found that they had already disappeared, he had just been too caught up in the exercise to notice the information relay. 'There goes that idea' he thought before replying "I'll try to keep that in mind next time."

"That is the first time you used a twin blade style" Zabuza suddenly said, looking up at Naruto, his voice firm enough to assume the statement of a fact. "How could you tell?" Naruto asked, closing his eyes as he scratched the back of his head.

Zabuza stepped into the dojo, calmly walked over to a rack that held a basic wooden bokken used for kendo practice, and proceeded to go through a very complex kenjutsu kata that was surprisingly acrobatic in its lunges and parries. Unable to help himself, Naruto whistled in appreciation at the obvious display of superior skill. After about a minute or two, Zabuza stopped and calmly placed the bokken back on the rack from whence it came. "I was one of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist for eight years. In order to enter the personal guard unit of the Mizukage, one must first endure several years of training. I entered the program not too long after I graduated. The initial training phase is a complete immersion in every known sword art, training in how to wield any bladed weapon. From that training the masters determine which of the seven swords would best suite you, before placing you under the apprenticeship of the current wielder of the sword. That is how I know you are a novice at using twin blades, pure experience" Zabuza said with conviction.

Naruto looked away briefly as he made a mental note to learn more about the Seven Swordsmen, before shaking his head nonchalantly. "So I'm a novice, so wha..." he began to say, before Haku interrupted him. "Zabuza-san did not say that you were a novice Naruto-kun. He said that was the first time you attempted to use a kenjutsu style based on the wielding of two blades" the quite girl said.

As if answering his silent question, Tsugime spoke out next. "What Zabuza-san appears to be fascinated in, is that though it is obvious to a master such as he that this is the first time you have used two blades together, you somehow wield them with a high degree of skill. The movement of your limbs and muscles imply knowledge, but they also denote a distinct lack of experience."

"You should not be able to..." Gozu began, "...do what we have seen nii-sama" Miezu finished. Naruto just stood there for a moment looking slightly perplexed, before shrugging and saying nonchalantly "Your point being?"

Zabuza chuckled a little before shaking his head, "There is no point. We were just remarking on how...interesting...you seem to be, Uzumaki Naruto. After your performance at Nami, I think I speak for all of us by saying that you hold a certain...fascinating quality. You are an enigma, one which we intend to unravel" the formidable shinobi said, before turning away and walking out of the dojo. He paused as he got to the door and shouted over his shoulder "Hey kid! Seems like you have some visitors!"

Naruto looked up from re-sealing the dao swords within his weapon scroll, before heading outside and humming at the figures before him. Walking up the pathway from his front entrance were Kakashi and the Sandaime. Naruto wondered what the old Hokage might want from him, then realised that he was currently housing five known nuke-nin from a rival village, so a visit like this was completely within the boundaries of reason. Downing some water from a nearby canteen, Naruto picked up his belongings and stuffed them back inside his satchel before slinging the bag over his back and walking to greet his guests.

On seeing the blonde moving to intercept them, Kakashi gave a small wave and called out "Ohayo Naruto!" in as friendly a voice as possible. The jounin still remembered the frosty encounter he had with the son of his late sensei the last time he was here, and he wanted to make up for his paranoid intrusion as quickly as possible. Naruto responded with his own slightly more lackadaisical wave, the minor fatigue of the training exercise beginning to catch up on him.

Sarutobi Hiruzen gazed about the inside of the compound, waves of nostalgia filling him with both happiness and sadness. He had spent many a peaceful evening here over his many years, having been friends with the Namikaze clan since he was a child. It had saddened him greatly to literally see the lights go out one by one across the district, to witness a once proud clan reduced to almost nothing. But in Naruto he could see a new hope, a light to illuminate the darkness and bring a lasting peace to the world, brighter than the brief intermissions between war that he and his forbears achieved.

"Ah Naruto, it's been too long" the wizened Hokage said, smiling as Naruto approached.

Naruto performed a slight bow with his head only, knowing that the Sandaime was not a real stickler for formalities. "Sandaime-jiji, what brings you here? I'm not in trouble again I hope, because I swear I only threw one..." he began to say, desperately trying to avoid implication in a certain...incident that had occurred on his arrival back to Konoha. Let us say it involved several irate village elders, a fruit stand and insults made as to the legitimacy of Naruto's birth. Not with standing, Naruto felt inclined to vent his disapproval at such allegations with a heavy bombardment of tomatoes...allegedly.

Kakashi waved the boy quiet, "The Hokage has come to have a word with you Naruto...concerning your new house guests" the lanky jounin said, gesturing with his head at the Kiri-quintet sitting on the dojo steps. Naruto hummed before smiling, "Well if that's the case...I had better go make some tea."

**Later**

The group sat within the large lounge area of Naruto's home, a tray of sushi, sake and tea on a table between the two divided factions. On one side, reclining in their own unique ways on a large divan sofa made from plush dark green leather, were the Kirigakure shinobi. And on the other side were Kakashi, Sarutobi and Naruto. Most of the group had accepted tea, the sake was there simply as an alternative for the adults if they so wished to drink alcohol at such a time in the afternoon, which apparently Zabuza wanted to do.

Sarutobi began the discussion by outlaying to the foreign shinobi his overall proposal. He was willing to grant them amnesty within the village and the basic rights as a citizen of Konoha, so long as their behaviour within the village was kept at a satisfactory level. In return they would, in effect, swear an allegiance to Konoha and become a part of its shinobi force, with the rank and pay that comes with such a role. Zabuza and the Demon Brothers, since they were more renowned than their younger allies, would form a three man unit dealing in stealth missions of B rank and higher. As for Haku and Tsugime, they would be have to undergo a crash course in village history at the Academy in order to become genin of the village.

"But our ability levels are already beyond that of a simple genin. Why should we attend this Academy of yours?" said Tsugime, who personally (though she would never voice it verbally) found the suggestion both intriguing and insulting. Haku was of the same opinion, but more so in the former of Tsugime's unspoken emotions.

Sarutobi looked at the two girls, "Yes I am more than aware of your advanced kekkai genkai abilities, but in order to function as shinobi of Konoha you must be versed in our history and teachings. Otherwise, when the time comes for you to go out on a mission for the village and you have to work with other shinobi, your lack of knowledge may put the whole team in jeopardy. And as for the rank, that can easily be sorted before the winter is out...if you are up to the challenge."

Though those remarks seemed to satisfy the girls, a disgruntled snort from Zabuza raised the nuke-nin's discontent. "You wish to speak Zabuza-san?" enquired Hiruzen, fully prepared for whatever rants the former member of the Seven Shinobi Swordsmen was prepared to make.

Reaching back to scratch his neck, Zabuza looked the three Konoha shinobi in the eyes, one after the other till his gaze rested on Sarutobi. Naruto noticed his eyes linger a fraction longer on his own, but paid it no heed. After a long period of silence, Zabuza finally spoke up and uttered two words "No way."

Next it was Sarutobi's turn to snort, if only a little and it was more of a cough to clear the throat. Zabuza took this as a cue to continue, "I am a nuke-nin, a shinobi that has abandoned his village to seek his own goals, you understand that don't you? If I left my village, my home, why should I just up and decide to move someplace else. Just because I got an offer from one village leader over another? I chose to strike out on my own; to pursue a destiny unbound the constant life of 'defending my village' and 'taking missions'. Why should I give that freedom up?"

Sarutobi was silent, patiently waiting for Zabuza to finish before asking "Why did you leave your village Zabuza? It has been almost a decade now since your reported coup d'état failed and you and your followers were scattered to the winds by those of the seven still faithful to the Mizukage. What happened to drive you to such lengths?"

Zabuza reclined his head, gazing up at the ceiling. Without moving he began to recall the events leading up to his eventual severance from Kirigakure and the rule of the Mizukage. "Our homeland is far different to yours, or any of these lands bound to this continent. We are an island state, a collective of earthy patches rising from the great ocean. Because of this, our politics are different to your politics, our rules altered and above your rules, our traditions separate to your traditions..."

"...In our village, the Mizukage takes a far more aggressive role than simply 'protector'. He is the supreme ruler of the land, the will that guides the whole of Mizu no Kuni, the unifying pillar of force. Yes we had daimyo, feudal lords whose power is great, but they are mere men. Regardless of how wealthy they may be, the Mizukage and his strength are the true power behind the land. And the Seven Shinobi Swordsmen of the Mist, the personal regiment of the Mizukage, are his closest allies, the elite. Do you understand? We were far more than mere shinobi, carrying ancient blades for their aesthetic value. We were the closest allies to the most powerful man in the whole of Mizu no Kuni. Lofty positions earned through blood and toil, much like your Densetsu no Sannin..."

"...Since we are so close to our leader, we are privy to secrets not known to the lower ranks, the common shinobi whose purpose is to serve the system developed over the past century, going on ranked missions for the profit of the village like Konoha, Suna, Iwa and all the rest. I held my rank for almost five years before I left the village, and it is during that time that I learnt...certain things, which caused me to make the choices I made."

"And what were these...certain things that you unearthed Zabuza?" Kakashi asked, his interest peaked. It was well known amongst the shinobi world that Kirigakure was one of the most...unique...villages in terms of their traditions, but it was also one of the best at hiding its innermost secrets. A land protected by the ocean itself divided into hundreds of islands large and small, bar the main land where Kirigakure resides, a perfect place to hide almost anything.

"I learnt a truth that spans decades...how our village came to be used...agh, you wouldn't understand even if I told you. At the time I thought that, by removing the current 'Mizukage' and placing myself as the village's protector; I could somehow restore the balance of power and make Kirigakure a better place..." At this point Zabuza turned from side to side, looking at his allies with whom he had been running with for many years.

"...It is only recently that I have come to realise, after much reflection, that it was during this point that I lost my way...no, it was way before then. I had always hated the village since I was a boy, a shunned child of a disgraced shinobi clan. I tried to prove my worth, in a place where only strength is valued, by attacking the graduates during their final exam...but that only cemented me further in blood and grief. I had earned hollow respect by killing strangers. After a while I became distant, an automaton rising through the ranks. Somewhere in the blood were noble intentions, a desire to prove that my bloodline was not full of failure. And when I learnt the truth, when I knew what had to be done...I think I was doing it for the village. Casting down a corrupt figurehead to prove my worth, but it failed, I was not strong enough. So I left, vowing to return stronger, strong enough to depose that lying bastard..."

Zabuza levelled his gaze at the Hokage, a conviction that Kakashi had never seen before shining within them. "...There is so much of my history that you do not know. All my life I have tried to restore my clans tarnished reputation, only to become lost in a false servitude, one bad decision after another leading me down wrong path after wrong path. During my service as a swordsmen and bodyguard of the Mizukage, I discovered that our venerated leader was little more than a puppet. There was someone else, a figure hidden in the shadows, pulling the strings and using the village to their own ends. I had thought by removing the puppet I could sever this control or at least confront it, but the resistance I met was too great. I had to leave, fleeing for my life with as many allies as I could. All these years I have dirtied my hands, selling my services to the highest bidder, uncaring as to who I hurt...all in the pursuit of a single goal."

"You're trying to discover the identities of the puppet master...aren't you?" Naruto said, finally understanding the man's motivations after so long. Zabuza looked at the boys with a raised, well if he had eyebrows one would be raised in surprise!

"Right, not bad kid. And it was only after I met you that I realised just how narrow my field of vision had become. I was so caught up in my revenge that I almost lost my soul. I cannot join this village as a shinobi, not when my loyalties still lie with my homeland. So I decline your offer Hokage, for now I must remain a free agent" Zabuza said, some of his initial hostility gone from both voice and expression. It appeared that in telling his story he had achieved a small level of self assurance in the company of the Konoha shinobi.

Sarutobi closed his eyes and with his usual slow deliberation, withdrew, filled and lit up his pipe. A thin stream of smoke began to emanate from the apparatus, and though Naruto frowned a little, he was willing to let the old man enjoy his creature comfort. "It is true that contact with the Mizukage has been...scattered at best. If what you speak of is true, then the success of your plan could lead to a safer world for us all. With this in mind, it would seem I have to alter my proposal a little Zabuza-san, if that is indeed your wish. I will not ask that you join our village as a shinobi, nor shall I force your allies. However, the offer of sanctuary still stands. What say you to that, Momochi Zabuza?"

The nuke-nin only chuckled in reply, and was about to speak when Gozu stood up. Bowing to the Hokage, the older twin cleared his throat. "I speak for my brother as well in saying, I...we, would be honoured to become a shinobi of Konoha. Unlike Zabuza-sama, our family ties with Kirigakure and Mizu no Kuni died a long time ago. We have discussed it at length, and we believe a new start would be for the best..." he added, turning to Zabuza in respect "...so long as we have Zabuza-sama's approval. We respect him too much not to seek it."

Zabuza waved his hand dismissively. "Funnily enough, I was about to suggest the same thing...for all of my subordinates." On hearing this, Gozu and Mizu uttered sighs of relief, whilst Tsugime and Haku uttered exclamations of surprise. "But...Zabuza-sama..." Tsugime began to speak, only to be met with another dismissive wave. Zabuza carefully looked both girls in the eyes before speaking.

"I know you both would follow to me to the ends of the earth, both as my allies and as my friends. But for what I am to do, I must use my own hands and not any others. For years I treated you as living weapons, teaching you to kill to further my own ends. But all I was doing was perpetuating the same bloody cycle swept me up so many years ago. I want a fresh start for all of you, free from the bloody fate I have set for myself" the man said, a small tear just forming in the corner of one eye as he recalled his years of callous behaviour towards his closest friends.

Both girls looked at the floor, taking in the words of their mentor. It was Haku that finally spoke, "Very well, if that is what you wish Zabuza. But please allow us this one favour. When the time comes, let us stand by your side as you free our homeland from its shackles." All Zabuza could do was nod, the girls still had a power over him that words could not describe.

Looking back at Sarutobi, Zabuza mulled over the idea of a permanent base of operations. "You offer me and my allies a sanctuary, we may...live here..." the question was met with a nod "...fine. My friends have made up their minds...or been told what to do. You have yourself a deal." And with that, the two got up and shook hands.

**Later**

After some more discussion between the two groups, Hiruzen asked that Kakashi take Tsugime, Haku, Gozu and Miezu to the Hokage building to register as shinobi. He informed the lanky jounin that he needed to talk to Naruto some more, which the boy's sensei accepted without question. The old Hokage found Naruto in his room, looking at a picture of his parents. Knocking politely before entering, the Hokage smiled at the sight of the familiar photograph.

"I remember that picture. So few people were privy to your birth at your fathers request, but Kushina still wanted to go through the motions of having a christening" the old man said, taking a seat on a chair opposite the bed where Naruto sat.

Naruto looked up, "Mom was religious?" he asked. Sarutobi smiled, it had been so long since he and the boy had talked like this, how he missed their conversations. "Not strictly religious per se, but she was a deeply spiritual woman. She had been taught to respect the dead and venerate her ancestors, who had moved on to a far greater place. She always told me it helped calm her down if she was angry. Ironic isn't it, considering your...spiritual abilities."

"And the fact that christenings are meant to protect a baby from misfortune, when not long afterwards the Kyuubi was sealed inside of me" Naruto added sarcastically.

Hiruzen shook his head, his smile disappearing briefly for a moment. "Yes that is true. But I find it is always better to remember the good, rather than stay fixated on the bad..." he said with a sigh. The smile then returned, coupled with a hard glint in the Hokages eyes "...Now Naruto, I decided to stay behind in order to talk to you about...certain events that have occurred recently. And afterwards there is something of great importance we need to discuss, an errand you must perform for me."

Naruto leaned forwards, holding his head in his hands. He sat still for a moment, before running his fingers through his hair with a yawn. 'How long has it been since we talked...not since I handed in my registration and asked for oyaji's will. He knows about Shinzui Hashi, and that I talk to the dead, but other than that not much else. He is the Hokage...best tell him everything I can' Naruto thought, before walking over to his scroll chest. Unlocking the chest with the usual combination of dispelling the sealing jutsu and turning the key to the lock, Naruto opened the chest and pulled out several scrolls. "If we're going to talk about what happened in Nami, then we'll need to go for a walk."

**The Vault**

"This is the Vault, the most treasured secret of the Namikaze clan stretching back to the founding of Konoha..." Naruto said, gesturing with his arms to the massive library complex. In order to fully help Sarutobi comprehend what he had to tell him, Naruto had decided after some thought to take the old Hokage to Earth meets Sky, and through there the Vault. As he walked Naruto talked about what he had done during the mission, his decision to help Hinata with her training, his battles, etc. When it came to his training, Naruto remarked on his Kage Bunshin method, which Sarutobi complemented on being 'an excellent idea befitting such a unique shinobi.' The subtle comment on his inhuman levels of chakra was not lost on Naruto.

After finishing on the topic of the Nami mission, Naruto had kept decidedly quiet until the pair reached Earth meets Sky, except when they began their ascension of the stairs when he joked about 'the stairs being a bother' for the old man. Sarutobi had merely laughed as a reply. When they reached the top, Naruto allowed the man a minute to take in the sheer scale of the place.

"To think that such a place had existed all these years. I could never have dreamed of it...Sanshuo you old devil" Hiruzen exclaimed, following Naruto as the blonde described how he had come to find the training ground, and how it was here that he had forged himself into a stronger shinobi. Naruto described what he had learnt, spending a small degree of time on his visit to Ryu's shop, which elicited more reverie from the old Hokage as to his equally old rival. Moving on with the revelation, Naruto then activated the doors to the Vault, having since learnt to activate the release seal from a distance, before guiding the once more bemused Hokage into the secret warehouse.

Now the pair stood within the lobby of the Vault, at the threshold of the vast repository of knowledge that was the sanctuaries library. "...The Vault was created by my clan during the founding of Konoha, as a sanctuary for the village in both mind and body. All of the knowledge amassed during the village's lifetime would be held here for safe keeping, so that future generations might learn from the past. Also, the Vault itself serves as a safe haven from attack, like the bunkers within the Hokage Mountain that we use today, except on a grander scale. Within this place, the whole village could outlast a siege or even the village's destruction. After the enemy has moved on or relaxed, the village can be rebuilt or retaken depending on the situation."

"This is just incredible Naruto. I must ask why you are showing me this place. Surely you know that, as Hokage of Konoha, I am honour bound to use this place now as a haven for the village. It will no longer be the secret your clan has kept, it will be common knowledge. Are you ready to release such a secret unto the world?" the Sandaime asked.

Naruto closed his eyes and mused over the question. "It is for those reasons that I am showing you this place Sarutobi-san. During my...period of rest after the bridge battle, I did a great deal of thinking within myself. I came to the conclusion that, should a situation such as this arise when you came to me wanting to talk, I would take you here and reveal to you it's true purpose. Also, it helps ground what I am about to tell you."

Sarutobi raised an eyebrow and followed Naruto as he went through the library and up the rear exit of the underground compound to the open air on the other side of the mountain. Feeling the breeze on his face Naruto opened his arms and sighed, taking in the breath taking scenery. "I suppose you chose this spot as the scene for your final revelation of this day, eh Naruto?" the Hokage said with a smile.

Naruto nodded, and with a calm face began to orate his final reveal, his father's plan of having him quite literally learn from the dead, and the prophecy surrounding the decision. As he went through the names of who had arose to teach him, Sarutobi went through a complex series of emotion turns. He felt nostalgia at the names of former comrades and figureheads of his world, sadness at the reminder of their fatal separation from the mortal coil, and happiness knowing that they existed in a way that gave them personal gratification.

Wiping a tear from his eye Sarutobi Hiruzen looked at the boy standing before him. So unassuming at only twelve years of age, with such a great destiny weighing down on his shoulders. Gifted with unique abilities even in the world of the shinobi, how this child lived his life, the choices he makes, would have ramifications on the whole world, that he knew as a certainty. "Naruto, thank you for telling me all of this. I shall keep what has passed between us as a secret..." the old man moved over and placed his hands on the boys shoulders "...you shall make your parents proud Naruto. As a shinobi and as a man, it will fall to you to guard the King in the future."

Naruto was unsure as to what 'the King' meant, but he felt surprisingly moved hearing the man's words. The pair talked further, on what Naruto hoped to achieve, how far he wanted to progress. Returning back to the vast library, Naruto took care in returning the last batch of scrolls he had taken out from the library for the Nami mission to their original places. With some guidance from the enthusiastic Hokage, Naruto carefully selected a new group of scrolls to take back, ones that might complement what he was to learn from the Shodaime and Nidaime, before leaving the Vault.

Outside, Naruto heard Sarutobi stop and laugh to himself. Turning to see what all the commotion was about, Naruto saw the old Hokage reach into his robes and pull out two scrolls. He recognised both, as he had been taught the features of particular scrolls at the Academy. One bore the appearance of a message scroll, particularly a message scroll used to pass important information between dignitaries. The other was a standard mission scroll, and judging by its colour it was a B-rank mission scroll.

"This has been such an unusual day; I almost forgot my reason for staying behind to talk to you Naruto. Here..." the Hokage said, handing Naruto the scrolls "...these are for you."

"You're assigning me a mission?" Naruto asked, somewhat bemused at the situation. "I mean, I've only just returned from my last mission, and that was with my team. Should I tell Kakashi-sensei about this?"

"Kakashi already knows and has consented to what I asked of him. Naruto, this is a personal mission that you must undertake by yourself. It requires speed and secrecy, the kind that one shinobi can accomplish with ease alone but not with a full team. This is your first solo mission, and I expect nothing but the highest standards of efficiency from one of the Namikaze bloodline" the Hokage said with authority.

"But why not send a jonin or someone of a more suitable rank. I mean I'm only a genin" Naruto rebuked. He was conflicted on this request. Whilst part of him was thrilled at the chance of operating alone for the first time, challenging him in new ways, another part was wary of such a responsibility so early into his shinobi career.

"Because this is a task that you alone can accomplish Naruto. Nobody else will have the success rate that you can achieve with this particular situation" Sarutobi replied.

Naruto looked down at the two scrolls in his hand, and then at the Hokage. This was a personal mission for him, the old man had obviously thought of him when writing it. What would happen if he refused and someone else performed it, would it really fail like the Sandaime said? No, this was a challenge, if he did this mission he would gain valuable experience of working alone in the field, a necessary evil if he were to become a chunin or jonin. His mind made up, Naruto once more looked the old Hokage in the eyes before saying "Fine. I accept the mission."

**Later**

After accepting the mission and receiving thanks from the old man, the pair returned to the Namikaze compound where Sarutobi bid Naruto good day. It was around the middle of the afternoon, so Naruto decided to leave off reading the mission scroll in favour of something else. He had been informed by the Hokage that on reading the mission scroll he was to leave the following day, so he needed to use the time he had in Konoha wisely.

With those thoughts in mind, Naruto picked up his weapons scroll and headed for Ryu's shop. He took his special weapon scroll, wherein were sealed all of the combat weapons he had accumulated since moving into his new house, one of which was the Namikaze clan katana...the broken clan katana. Despite coating the blade with compacted chakra laden air during his fight with Tsugime, the girl's kekkai genkai enhanced bone weapons had still managed to cause damage to the old sword. Naruto had initially believed that the metal had only been weakend, the edge blunted, but his Kyuubi enflamed assault on Gato's men had aggravated the blades weakened state, and not soon after waking up from his 'coma' Naruto had learnt that the cherished sword had snapped in four places. He had carefully sheathed the pieces and sealed the sword within the scroll, and now he needed to repair it.

Hence the trip to see Ryu, whom Naruto knew had a forge and a deep knowledge of shinobi weapons. Naruto hoped the crotchety old man would help, since the retired shinobi's fickle, sardonic nature was well known amongst the veterans of the village. Many had found themselves brought down several pegs after receiving a lashing from the old coot's barbed remarks.

Before heading out, Naruto checked on the Kirigakure quintet to make sure they were staying put. He found them in the dojo; they had apparently been discussing their decisions in recognition of the Hokage's offer. Naruto informed them that he was going out, adding that if they needed anything from the town they could ask and he would try to find it for them. He was a little taken aback when Zabuza informed him that they would accompany him. Naruto tried to backtrack, but he had made the offer and, as Zabuza pointed out, he was supposed to watch them.

Now a little reluctant Naruto groaned as he and his 'guests' left the Namikaze compound and headed for the village. The reason Naruto was groaning was that he knew that his 'quick trip' would now he substantially longer, considering that the Kirigakure quintet were new to Konohagakure and as host he was bound by duty to give them a tour and so on.

"So where are you headed gaki?" Zabuza asked, looking around at the villagers going about their daily lives. Naruto had asked that the group not wear their hitai-ate, but in exchange Zabuza had decided to take his Kubikiri Hocho with him. So whatever hope of appearing nonchalant that Naruto had harboured was immediately ruined by the great big sword that the jonin insisted he carry at all times.

Sucking on his cheek Naruto rolled his eyes. "I'm heading to a friend's shop to ask him a favour" Naruto replied.

"That shop wouldn't happen to be a blacksmith? And that favour wouldn't happen to be your friend repairing your katana?" Zabuza said with a small undercurrent of childish glee.

Naruto's eyebrow ticked at the enquiry, and before he could take the bait Tsugime spoke up. "I informed Zabuza of our battle whilst you were recuperating Naruto-san. Your ability to protect your blade was ingenious, but not a perfect one. My bones still caused damage, and as Zabuza-sama has surmised, this is a trip to get your weapon repaired. This is true, is it not?" the girl said, her poker face not revealing any of the feelings she held within.

Tsugime could not help but gaze at Naruto when she was in the boys company. He was one of the most unique individuals Tsugime had ever encountered. He had proven an equal match for her in combat, though her skills were more formidable Naruto had won through determination, courage and with an intelligence that had frightened the girl at first. She recalled the vision she knew had irrevocably changed her.

**Flashback**

_Tsugime raged against the hold the infuriating blonde had over her. For the first time in years she felt...fear, yes, she was afraid of this boy. The hardness that had taken over his brilliant blue eyes went straight through any defence she erected, like he was gazing into her very soul. She screamed, but felt her breaths becoming laboured. As her foe explained what was happening, the terror mounted. How could a person control the air itself with such deadly intent? How could he turn the air she breathed into a weapon?_

_As her chest became heavy and her breaths short, Tsugime cursed as she felt her grip on reality fade away, her conscious mind drifting to the way side as the lack of oxygen to her brain caused her to faint. Then there was darkness, for Tsugime rarely dreamed. When she dreamed, she dreamed of that night, and she did not like reliving that night._

_But then a light shone in the dark, and drawn to the light like a moth Tsugime dived headlong into...warmth. A warm blanket of peace covered her body, soothed her mind, and through the fog she heard a voice say her name. Blinking hard, Tsugime made out a figure emerging from the light which made her gasp._

"_Okaasan?" Tsugime asked, gazing on the figure of her mother. The woman smiled, the benevolent face she recalled from her early years expelling all doubts. Happiness filled Tsugime heart as she reached out, and her mother responded by taking her by the hand. Was she dead? Was she passing into the next realm of existence? For the time Tsugime did not care, she was content to be beside her beloved mother._

_They walked through the light together, Tsugime talking about her life. She felt her mother's discomfort as she narrated her story, her anger at how she was treated by the clan, through the tightening of her grip as Tsugime spoke. Tsugime talked on when she met Zabuza, and how she dedicated herself to him, up until her fight with Naruto._

"_You stepped on the path to healing Tsugime, in choosing to help this man Zabuza. But you have barely taken any steps my child. The true path to becoming one with the world, to achieving true inner peace, lies in not just helping one vengeful man. It lies in helping others. This child, Uzumaki Naruto, bears a tremendous weight on his shoulders. He has suffered all of his life, been shunned by others as a monster, just like you were daughter. It was by his hand that I was able to talk to you like this, he is the key to bridging our worlds, and for this moment I am forever grateful to him. Tsugime, if you can do anything with the life you still have, help this young boy. He has a destiny that affects all of creation, and he will need friends to soothe his worries and stand by his side."_

_Tsugime listened to her mother's words and felt a new sense of understanding towards Naruto. The pair continued to walk through the pale light, and Tsugime could not help but mutter through trembling lips "Uzumaki Naruto-san...arigato."_

**End Flashback**

Naruto sighed in exasperation, and Tsugime could not help but giggle slightly under her breath at the sight of the boy's behaviour. Then she realised what she was doing and quickly suppressed the feeling and resumed her usual calm demeanour. No matter how cute Naruto looked, she would not falter in her appearance. "Yes, I am heading to get my katana repaired. It's my clan honour blade, I can't let it stay broken can I?" Naruto said aloud, walking ahead of the group. Tsugime looked at Zabuza and saw him nodding his agreement. Was her mentor warming up to this boy...perhaps?

The group arrived at Ryu's shop and Naruto was welcomed inside by the bizarre scarred owner. "So Naruto, what brings you and these..." Ryu's eyes narrowed at the sight of the Kubikiri Hocho "...friends of yours here. Last thing I heard you an your team were heading out on some mission, finally got given a C-rank? Always been my idea that genin need to be chucked in at the deep end, not molly coddled into walking dogs, but that's a personal preference."

Naruto smiled at the unabashed behaviour of the old man. "You don't know the half of it Ryu-san..." he replied, taking out the weapons scroll from its pouch. Unsealing the katana with a poof of shinobi smoke, Naruto handed the weapon to the man, scabbard and all. "...I need you to fix this for me. It's important that its repaired..." Naruto finished. He was about to continue when he saw Ryu hold out his hand to silence him.

"You don't need to say any more Naruto. You think I'm so old that I don't recognise Sanshuo's sword?" Ryu said, looking down at the blade with an odd mix of affection and nostalgia. Naruto noted that today seemed to be a day of him reminding old men of the good old days.

"That's the second time I've heard that name. Who was Sanshuo?" Naruto asked, though he could already guess.

"Your great-grandfather Naruto...Namikaze Sanshuo" Ryu replied with respect evident in his tone.

Zabuza's eyes widened at the name and he whispered "Namikaze Sanshuo...he was..." but could not finish his sentence as Ryu once more interrupted. "Yes, he was. And now you know just a little more about this boy than you should, so I ask you...can you keep a secret Momochi Zabuza? You think I don't recognise the Kubikiri Hocho when I see it?" the old man said with a dark glint in his one good eye.

Zabuza was shocked to find he was blanching at the look, this old man was tough, even he could tell that. Weakly he nodded, gaining some looks of shock from his subordinates. Looking over at Naruto, Zabuza suddenly saw the boy in an ever evolving new light. First he saw him as a challenge after he defeated Kyouran, then as an annoyance when he clashed with him the first time. But as he heard from his allies of how he went through them one after the other, taking immense punishment as he did so, Zabuza felt respect kindle within his heart. The respect one fighter felt towards another, as a warrior Zabuza saw Naruto as a potential rival...one he secretly hoped to cultivate.

It had been the major driving force behind his coming to Konoha. Though he had consigned himself to tracking down the controller of Kirigakure, using Konoha as a base gave him the choice to help influence the rise of a strong shinobi. He had voiced his views to Kakashi, who merely laughed and to get in line. Many others wanted to have a stake in his boy, to in some way help be part of something beyond themselves. And to learn that this boy was descended from the Arashi no Ken, a man greatly respected in the Swordsmen community; well it made his desire to train the boy all the greater.

Ryu turned his attention back on Naruto. "A job like this requires care and attention; reverence needs to be paid to the steel. To do things properly, I would need to order in specialised supplies, steel, dense coal for the forge and so on. But, if I put full attention to it...I reckon I can have this blade re-forged in five to six weeks..."

Naruto bowed in thanks to the man, a massive foxy grin on his face. The smile was quickly wiped off his face though when he heard Ryu continue "...but it's going to be pretty pricey. Good thing your folks left you all that dough, I mean this job is going to put me through a couple of winters...I am going to be loaded after this one hoooooBOY!"

Naruto's eye ticked, his teeth ground against one another, and just when he was about to explode into a full blown angry rant, Ryu leant in and whispered conspirationaly. "Also, if there are any...improvements you can think of that I could make, tell me now and I'll see what I could throw in as a bonus, free of charge. I mean, working on this weapon, you honour me Naruto."

The smile returned to Naruto's face as he winked at the grizzled veteran. "Way ahead of you Ryu-san..." he said, producing a scroll from within his jacket "...I've been working on these ideas for a couple of days as we travelled back from Nami. Tell me what you think of them."

Accepting the scroll from the blonde, Ryu unfurled in a little and took a peek at the boy's ideas. A look of wonderment crossed the old man's scarred visage, and he looked from the scroll to Naruto with a big gaping grin on his face. "Kid you are something else...I think I may be able to provide for some of these ideas...oh especially that one, oh yes..." he said, rolling the scroll back up before picking up the katana pieces. Gesturing for the group to leave Ryu called out over his back "...this project just took up my schedule for the month, so I'm gonna close early and make the necessary arrangements. You can visit me periodically for updates, otherwise I'll see you in a while Naruto."

Watching the man disappear into his supply room, Naruto looked at the group and decided to take his leave. The Kirigakure quintet, having observed the whole transaction, looked at Naruto with a strange sense of awe. What they had gleaned, the insight into Naruto's lineage was a huge upset in their overall opinion of the boy. Feeling the need to give him some space, Zabuza followed Naruto back into the main street and was about to tell the kid that he was going to head over to the Hokage office before returning to the compound, but he found an excitable shouting boy beating him to the punch in a deeply bizarre way.

"Konoha Senpu!" was all Naruto and the group heard, before in a flash a green blur struck out at Naruto from behind with a sweeping left kick. Acting on instinct with a grin on his face, Naruto stood his ground, rolling his torso right underneath the kick with almost practiced ease. Spinning on one heel, Naruto brought both arms up in a boxer's defence, both forearms held up vertically to protect the torso. For the pair, as was often the case during their previous sparring sessions, time seemed to drag. Lee tried to pull out of the move but momentum kept him going. Naruto then pushed forwards with one hand in what seemed be a palm push, but in a blisteringly fast manoeuvre he grabbed hold of the fabric of Lee's bodysuit, using the boy's momentum to pull him into a throw. With no wasted energy, Naruto pulled Lee into a spin that led the boy over the blonde's head. Grabbing behind with his left arm Naruto grasped Lee by the waist, and with a thud brought the energetic genin to the floor.

Letting go, Naruto reached out with one hand, which was grasped by a bandaged other. Pulling Lee to his feet, Naruto shook his head, the exertion causing him to breathe hard for a second. "Seriously Lee, you have to try harder than that! Or at the very least call my name out once or twice, just to mix things up a little."

Lee beamed, before with a laugh broke from Naruto's hand. "Another brilliant move Naruto-kun, I would expect nothing less from my training rival! I had not seen you since you went on that B-rank mission, so I decided to see if your skills had lessened, to my folly. If anything, you have got even better!"

Naruto shook his head at his friend's enthusiasm. Lee had taken to calling him his 'training rival' during their training days together, since whenever the two were together they pushed themselves harder to outdo the other. That and Neji was Lee's main rival, the one whom he trained to one day defeat. "So what brings you to Ryu's...that is your destination?" Naruto asked, trying to push the conversation away from constructive violence.

Lee paused for a moment, before hitting his fist into his palm triumphantly. "Oh, yes! Thank you Naruto-kun for reminding me. Gai-sensei sent me to Ryu-san's to place an order for him. I was to do this one chore before meeting the others at the restaurant...and now I am late! Quickly, you have just come from Ryu-san's...is he still open?" Lee asked earnestly.

Naruto nodded, "Yeah he's still open. If you head inside real quick he might be able to help you, but he might be busy for a while."

"Doing what Naruto-kun?" Lee enquired, his curiosity perked for a moment.

"I asked him if he could fix my katana. It was damaged during the mission to Nami no Kuni, and he agreed. The only trouble is a job like that takes time, he said he won't be able to serve many people for five weeks or so. But I'd ask him anyway, he always seems to be ready to get stuff for you and Gai-sensei" Naruto replied, but before he was finished Lee has disappeared in a blur of movement. Blinking once, Naruto turned back to the Kirigakure group to explain what exactly had just happened.

"That's Rock Lee, a friend of mine. We train together whenever we can, since he's a taijutsu specialist with more experience in close combat than me. It helps sharpen both of our abilities at taijutsu, I'm almost at the level where we can go all out on each other, but Lee's keep pulling new tricks out of the bag."

As a taijutsu specialist herself, Tsugime found her calm interest piqued at the mention of a fighter better than Naruto. Her battle with the blonde had been one of the hardest she had ever fought, and to hear that this strange boy with his bizarre physical appearance was a better combatant than him was certainly something. Not very long after entering Lee exited the small shop with a decidedly dejected look on his face.

"Lee what's up?" Naruto asked politely.

Lee hummed in what could only be for the normally cheery boy annoyance, crossing his arms like a sulking child. "Ryu-san said that he will be able to make the order, but because of his engagement with your katana his time is brief, meaning the whole process might take a full week longer than usual."

"But at least he can do it, that's a bonus right?" Naruto asked, trying to perk up his friend.

The words effect was instantaneous, the fugue lifting from Lee's expression and with his typical gusto the green-clad genin replied "Yosh! You are correct Naruto, better a delay than nothing at all." It was at this point that Lee finally noticed the others standing nearby. His eyes were immediately drawn to the Kubikiri Hocho on Zabuza's back, before scanning over each of the group in turn. 'These people are shinobi...or at the very least they are well trained soldiers. Their bodies are poised as if to move at a moment's notice...who are they?' he thought.

Noticing the movement in Lee's eyes, Naruto spoke up, introducing the group one by one. "Lee, this is Momochi Zabuza, Kaguya Tsugime, Haku..." He was interrupted by Haku who spoke up "My clan name is Touketsu" with calm finality. Naruto continued "...Gomen, as I was saying, Touketsu Haku and the twin brothers Nakiwarai Gozu and Nakiwarai Miezu. My team encountered them during our last mission, and the Hokage has offered them sanctuary within the village."

Lee's eyes widened as he took the measure of the quintet once more. The way in which Naruto phrased the word 'encountered' implied that the meeting had not been a social one, but they were also guests of the village. His confusion was short lived, as he recalled Gai-sensei telling him of how, in the world of shinobi the lines between foe and ally curiously blurred at certain points. This time must be one of those moments of blurring, former enemies becoming allies. Realizing he was being rude, Lee bowed courteously and introduced himself. "Gomen, my name is Lee, Rock Lee. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance."

Zabuza looked down at Lee with a detached curiosity, focusing on the bandages around the boy's hands. 'A taijutsu specialist aye...interesting' he thought, before barking over at Naruto, "Oi gaki, were gonna head back to that mansion of yours to rest. We know the way we came, so if it's okay with you can we ditch the whole 'prison guide' thing and separate."

Naruto groaned before muttering "Fine, just don't try anything funny..." looking up at the rooftop above them. The group followed his gaze and noticed a small minute cloud of dust rise into the air, a subtle sign that they were being watched. Chuckling darkly, Zabuza just motioned for his allies to leave and, like that, they walked off down the street in the direction that they had come.

Naruto turned to Lee and shook his head, "Ignore them. Anyway, Lee, what was that about meeting Gai-sensei at some restaurant? Something special happen recently?" he asked politely.

Lee blinked a little as he remembered where he was meant to be, the minor detail of being in the right place forgotten in the face of meeting his friend and the strange quintet of outsiders. "Oh yes! Thank you for reminding me of my prior engagement Naruto-kun, I had almost forgotten in my rush to visit Ryu-san..." Lee replied. A glint appeared in Lee's eye as he came upon an idea, and slapping his fist into his palm Lee struck a fiery 'nice guy' pose. "...Yosh! Naruto-kun, would you honour me by joining my team and I at the Senbonzakura restaurant. Gai-sensei is taking us there to celebrate a momentous turn in my training as a shinobi, and I am sure he would like to see you and learn of your fiery youthful exploits abroad."

Naruto brought his hand up to his eye to cover his vision from the glare of Lee's smile as his friend postured, and out of an urge to disappear from the sudden public attention that his friend had garnered through his display, accepted the invitation. Taking that as his cue, like a shot Lee was off, bounding through the air and across the rooftops of the village. Naruto, already exasperated by the events of the day just groaned once more and set off in pursuit of his friend. It did not take long before the pair were neck and neck, and a budding rivalry emerged as each attempted to beat the other to their destination. The Senbonzakura restaurant was one of the many establishments that served food within Konoha, this one specialising in mushimono, steamed dishes, and sashimi. The name came from the decor, centralized around cherry blossoms.

After a couple of minutes of high speed pursuit the pair landed dramatically at their destination. Naruto looked around for a sight of Gai and the others...and just managed to duck as a leaping man sped over him into Lee. A swift kick from Gai sent his pupil rolling off down the street, but in moments he was back with a large lump on his head beginning to show. "Lee! You are late! You told me that the trip to Ryu-san's and back would be completed in less than five minutes, yet clearly you have taken fourteen. Explain yourself!" Gai barked at his student, his overbearing approach to being a sensei kicking into high gear once more.

Lee for his part complied with the strange debacle without hesitation; such was his devotion to the man. "Yes sir! Gai-sensei sir! I was on my way to Ryu-san's as specified sir, but on arriving I ran into Naruto and got caught in conversation. Please forgive my tardiness Gai-sensei!"

Softening his expression, Gai shifted from 'angry mentor' to 'advisor', placing one hand on Lee's bowl shaped mop of hair. "I accept your apology Lee; I should not have scolded you. You were merely delayed by the most noble of pursuits, the pursuit of knowledge. For only through dedication to improving mind and body can we harness the full power of youth. But remember Lee, punctuality is one of the key tenements of the shinobi way. Without it, missions might fail because of tardy-silver-haired-jounin-with-a-too-cool-for-school-attitude-that-just-burns-me-up!"

"Eh" came the universal response from both Lee and Naruto. Gai had gone off on one of his Kakashi related tangents again. The equally bowl-haired jounin quickly regained his fervour, pointing at to the sky in a broad pose. Waves crashed behind him as the melodrama rose, "Lee, you have provided me with an acceptable excuse but none the less...for being late you shall perform two hundred laps of the training field!"

Lee leapt to his feet, putting away his notebook for another time. He and Gai were about to run away to the training field when Naruto decided to speak up, "Weren't you going to go to dinner first Gai-sensei? You had something to celebrate after all."

Both men stopped in mid-step, turned their heads, and as the reminder sunk in both settled down. Laughing as he realised the awkwardness of the situation, Gai turned his focused attention from Lee to Naruto. "Oh, Naruto! Sorry, I didn't see you there I was...uh...my attention was elsewhere. But you have a point...Lee! To the restaurant!" he said, pointing at the door to the establishment.

"Gai-sensei, I invited Naruto to join us if that is alright with you. He can share in the good news with us, and regale us with talk of his last mission" Lee said, bowing deeply to his teacher.

Gai paused with his hand to his chin, considering the request for a moment before responding with his usual nice guy pose. Naruto winced at the brightness of his teeth but knew it was the man's way. "Ha! Lee you devil, of course young Naruto can join us. The more the merrier! Now where are Neji and Tenten, they said they would only be a minute" Gai said, looking around for his other pupils.

Naruto cursed under his breath, he had forgotten that Neji would be there as well. The pair had not been on good terms ever since Naruto had first been introduced to the boy and they had fought. Well to say fought would be an overstatement, it was more along the lines of 'Naruto charged like a blind idiot and had his ass handed to him by Neji's jyuken'. Since that point in time, the Hyuga boy had always made a point of bringing up the incident, subtly so as not to appear to be gloating too much. Naruto had come to greatly dislike the boy as a result, originally it had been for his treatment of Lee, but now that had altered to a general hatred of his narrow minded fatalistic philosophy. But he a cool head during such moments, as well as his tongue behind his teeth and only vented his ire through training, as was appropriate.

"Over here sensei. Neji thought it best that we wait until you and Lee had calmed down some...oh, hey Naruto!" called a voice from across the street. Standing quietly were Neji and Tenten, dressed in their usual attire. Naruto waved back at Tenten, he was at the very least good friends with the girl. His gaze met with Neji's for a second, and unable to help himself Naruto felt his eyes narrow at the boy's condescending smirk.

"So you're finally back Uzumaki. Now Lee can finally cease his infantile pining for you and get back to being a failure instead of a pathetic failure" the Hyuga said with a shrug. Looking over at Lee Naruto saw the flicker of doubt, but forced himself to respond courteously "Sticks and stones Hyuga, it is good to see you too."

"Indeed" came the curt reply, and with that Neji walked into the open door of the restaurant. Tenten gave Naruto an apologetic look, and then a wink before walking inside. She was followed by Gai, leaving Naruto outside with Lee. "Don't let it get you down...you're stronger than he could ever realise" Naruto whispered to his friend, clapping him on the back to raise his spirits.

Lee nodded slightly, a small smile on his lips perking up on hearing his friend's words. Motioning for him to go first, Naruto followed the boy inside. A waiter seated the group at their booked table, although he did need a little persuasion from Gai before he allowed Naruto to be seated as well. They all ordered in turn and idled away with small talk as they waited for their food to be served. Naruto enquired as to the specifics of the occasion, and was met with a knowing look from Gai.

"It all began when you left for your mission to Nami no Kuni Uzumaki. Lee was at first a little despondent at your absence, missing such a bold training partner such as yourself, but after some words of encouragement from his sensei he perked up and redoubled his efforts. For some time I have been trying to impart a particular gem of wisdom unto my precious students, one that would help raise their abilities to the next physical level. I was teaching them in the means to opening the Hachimon, the eight inner chakra gates" Gai intoned ominously.

Naruto whistled, he had read about the Hachimon in his study of the chakra system. They were eight specific points on a person's chakra circulatory system, which limited the flow of chakra through the body. This of course makes a person weaker, but is necessary to stop the body from wearing itself out too quickly and dying prematurely. Through careful training, a skilled shinobi could learn to open these gates one by one, increasing the flow of chakra through their body and granting them incredible strength. The only downside was a deterioration of the body, internal injury and, if the eighth and final gate were opened, death. During this brief moment the power of a kage was at the shinobi's disposal, but at the cost of their life, which is the reason for the technique to be declared a kinjutsu.

"Yesterday, Lee finally mastered the technique for opening the Hachimon, opening a whole new level of power to him in terms of taijutsu. I thought it to be an occasion that warranted celebration, and here we are!" Gai finished, gesturing outwardly with open arms at the table. Lee looked slightly embarrassed at his teachers praise and just took a sip from his cup, tea seemed like a nice start to an evening meal.

"So Uzumaki, what of this mission of yours. Guarding an old man easy enough for you?" Neji asked in all politeness, though Naruto could detect the boy's niggling attempt to get him riled. He treated the sarcasm with a snort, but knew he had to speak as all of the eyes were on him.

Speaking honestly, Naruto described how the mission began as a C-rank guardian mission, before it escalated into a B and then an A-rank after confrontations with chunin and then jonin class adversaries. He explained the reason behind the attacks, but left the names for last. Lee gasped under his breath, "But those were the people whom you introduced to me earlier. The ones who you told me were guests in your home, and sanctified by the Hokage himself!"

This statement drew Gai's attention like an explosion, for he had heard of the nuke-nin Momochi Zabuza and his group of like-minded bandit shinobi. Like all jonin he possessed an encyclopaedic knowledge of the Bingo Book, as such knowledge was necessary when it came to defending the village. "I was getting to that Lee..." he said, talking about the training he and his allies went through and the subsequent battle atop Tazuna's bridge. He neglected certain details, such as the specifics of his own training, the Kyuubi's influence, and he left how he stopped Gato and the bandits vague, but he generally told them the full story. He then explained what had happened earlier in the day, with the Hokage offering the group sanctuary within Konoha. The whole tale took up just enough time for the food to arrive just after Naruto had finished.

"That was indeed a tale young Uzumaki! It seems your training with Lee is starting to pay off hm" Gai offered jokingly. Inside his head though, Gai was astounded at the audacity of what Naruto seemed to have accomplished. It takes more than guts to stand up to a jonin of the level of Zabuza, not just him but his allies as well by the sound of things. And to face them all within such a short space of time, Gai was humbled at the thought of the herculean effort Naruto must have went to keep on his feet.

'I will have to pay closer attention to this pupil of yours Kakashi! It would seem like your sensei before you, you have come across a student bearing a vast well of talent within themselves. I thought I was blessed with Lee, Neji and Tenten, but you have Naruto and the Uchiha' Gai thought to himself, calling a waitress over and asking for a small order of sake. Suddenly he felt in the need of a stiff drink.

"Wow, I never knew you had it in you Naruto. What was it like, wielding your katana for the first time?" Tenten asked, her interest as a weapon specialist clearly evident in her eyes.

"It felt...good..." Naruto answered honestly, recalling the feeling of decades of strength flowing through his arm as he wielded the honour blade against Tsugime. He felt saddened at its current condition, but knew Ryu would treat the ancestral weapon with care. "...It was like it was an extension of my body, of my soul even..." he added, seeing Tenten nod in affirmation.

"That's as it should be with katana. It's like with those samurai stories my father used to tell me when I was a small kid, the soul of a warrior is in their sword" she said, holding her hands with a romantic look in her eyes. Neji meanwhile was giving Naruto a very calculated sweep with his Byakugan eyes, seeing the weights he wore on his body and the recent scars caused by combat on his flesh. He would need to rethink his position on Naruto...no. He was a loser, and no matter how hard he pushed himself he would remain such, an insect beneath true genius.

Lee did not say a thing; he just ate his food and stared at Naruto with a peculiar intensity. 'Naruto-kun, have you come so far in such a short time? Soon even you shall surpass me, just like Neji and all the others' he thought, getting strangely depressed. He then remembered that such progress was a good thing, he should not be wishing for his good friend to remain weak for his own pride. He would train harder to match Naruto, especially now he had mastered the Renge and opening the Hachimon.

It was at this point that Gai's sake arrived at the table. Lee looked at the bottle with utter innocence to what lay within it, smiling at saying "Ah! Arigato Gai-sensei, you ordered some water to drink. I enjoy the tea, but I believe something more thirst quenching is needed..." Before the man could stop or warn him, Lee grabbed the bottle and drank its entire contents in one long swig. Pulling away, Lee's face scrunched up at the sake's taste "...what strange tasting water. Perhaps there is something..." He tried to finish his sentence, but a red glow had infused his cheeks and his demeanour turned sleepy.

"Wash the hell ish thish. Is not *hic* water...?" Lee slurred, throwing the bottle way. The clay broke against the nearby wall, grabbing the attention of all of the other patrons. Naruto felt a feeling of foreboding rise in the pit of his stomach, something was wrong. 'He's drunk? From that much sake?' Naruto thought, and he was suddenly aware of Lee's drunken gaze upon him.

"That...was a gooood story *hic* yu told there Naryuto...Kun. Tell me another!" Lee barked, slamming his fist onto the wooden table. The group looked at one another, worry evident at Lee's behaviour on their faces. Naruto began to stutter an answer, schooling his face into a calm expression, but Lee beat him to the chase.

"Not....gonna answer...huh! Sinsh when're yu a wisesh*hic*guy..." at that Lee got up and began hobbling around the table, his movements lacking any cowardination as he shuffled like a marionette with its strings cut. "...Tellin big storese...thinkin yur so big! I *hic* gnow how ta deal wid wisesh*hic*guysh!" Lee slurred, his tone getting more aggressive with each syllable. Before Naruto knew it, he was staring down the business end of a fist, aimed straight at his face.

It was only ingrained physical instinct which saved Naruto from what would have been a very hard blow. He dodged the punch by ducking forwards, but was forced to lean back again when he saw a subsequent knee flying at his face. And so began a dance of destruction as Lee tried to hit Naruto, his drunken stupor combined with his aptitude towards taijutsu lending his moves an unpredictable speed. Naruto did not want to hurt his friend, but as the number of hits he took rose and the sheer level of collateral damage piled up inside the restaurant, Naruto could see no other option but to put his friend down hard. The others were attempting to restrain him, so Naruto took the opportunity to wipe a dribble of blood dripping down his chin from his mouth, before releasing the chakra induced pull of his weights. He would need to be quick for this one.

Taking a deep breath, Naruto felt his consciousness calm, his mental state become like a still pond. In a flash he attacked, appearing in front of Lee as the others were thrown aside in their latest attempt to hold the violent drunk down. Naruto pushed Lee gently in the chest with both hands, palms flat, before pivoting and spinning around the boy's body. With two fingers he lashed out at the back of Lee's knees and at his elbows. The manoeuvre brought him around Lee full circle before with a firm stance he stood facing his friend dead in the eyes. A loud slap was heard as Naruto smacked his hands together as if in prayer, before he thrust forwards poking Lee in the forehead with his right hand. The effect was immediate, Lee's eyes fluttered and without a word he dropped to the ground fast asleep, snoring loudly.

Naruto felt in necessary to perform a small bow, he did not like using such methods but the situation demanded it. Ignoring the slight gapes from Tenten and Gai, alongside the glare from Neji, Naruto picked up Lee and slung him over his back. "Uh, I'll take him Naruto" Gai offered, taking the unconscious boy from the blonde. Naruto walked over to the owner, who had taken to cowering behind the half-destroyed counter for his own safety, and took out a chequebook. Writing what he believed to be a fair recompense Naruto handed the startled man the cheque saying "I apologise for my friend, we did not know that would happen. This should be enough to cover the damage costs, plus extra for the trouble we caused."

The man accepted the cheque dubiously, inspecting it intently. On seeing that it was genuine, his eyes lit up at the number written on it. "Th...Thank you! This should be more than enough for repairs...I could even afford to hire that an extra cook!" he exclaimed, shaking Naruto's hand fiercely. Naruto smiled and walked outside to join the others. Seeing their questioning looks, he waved his hands defensively. "It was just a move I picked up, it was nothing!" he said emphatically, trying to ward off suspicion. He still needed to maintain a certain level of deception; it was still too early to reveal his full capabilities to the world at large.

Gai narrowed his eyes at the obvious bluff, but the need to see Lee treated at the hospital overruled the majority of his curiosity. "Well it would seem that this meal is over, and since Lee is in need of medical treatment it would be prudent to hasten to the hospital. Neji, Tenten, you are dismissed for the remainder of the day. I'll see you too tomorrow...oh, and Naruto...thank you for stopping Lee. It would appear that he has a natural aptitude for Suiken, and if you had not taken him down who knows what havoc he might have caused. Till next time!" Gai said, disappearing as he made his way to the hospital at speed.

Naruto wiped his brow with the back of his hand, that had been a close one. He then noticed a certain Hyuga staring at him with Byakugan eyes on full alert. Raising an eyebrow Naruto decided to bite, "Is there something you'd like to ask me Neji?" The white eyes lost their overt intensity, losing the bulging veins around the temple but still retaining the intense fury Naruto could sense radiating from the prodigy.

"Those move you used to stop Lee, it was the nezama wasn't it? An attack designed to render an opponent helpless, first by stopping movement and then through rendering them unconscious with a chakra burst to the nervous system. How did you come to learn it?" Neji said politely, but Naruto could feel the anger buried beneath the words surface. He had forgotten Neji's knowledge of the Jyuken; he had thought that because the nezama was an old technique he could get away with using it to stop Lee without hurting him. Obviously he had underestimated Neji in this case.

"I read about it" he replied nonchalantly, technically it was true.

"You know that's impossible!" Neji said, his tone rising as his control wore away. "The nezama is a Jyuken technique passed down through the generations of the Hyuga clan, it is one of the oldest of the heiwaronsha techniques. It is impossible for an outsider to have any knowledge of such a manoeuvre, so I ask again, and this time to not lie..." the Byakugan rose to the fore "...I will know if you do Uzumaki!"

Naruto closed his eyes before looking right back into Neji's Byakugan, his face a blank mask of neutrality. "Fine. Kyuuten Kaihousho...look up that and you shall have your answer Neji-san. Choose your actions wisely, I sorely wish to keep the promise I made to Hizashi-san. Now if you'll excuse me..." he waved goodbye to Tenten "...I have guests at my home and I do not wish to be viewed as a poor host. Good day."

And with that Naruto disappeared in a cloud of shinobi smoke, leaving a fuming and bewildered Neji. 'Kyuuten Kaihousho, is that a taijutsu style of some kind. And then there was that name...Hizashi. How does he know that name!' Neji thought, grinding his teeth and clenching his fists until the knuckles went white. Vowing to get to the bottom of this strange revelation, Neji wordlessly turned and stormed off down the street, leaving a confused Tenten standing outside the restaurant doorway.

"What the fuck was that about?" she said aloud, ignoring the stares from passersby at her foul language.

**Later**

Naruto sat on the roof of his home, gazing up at the stars. Tonight was a clear night; there were only a couple of thin wisps of cloud in the sky so the heavens were fully visible to the naked eye. It had truly been a hectic day; he was surprised just how he had been able to cram so much in. Dealing with Zabuza's lot, taking the old Hokage to the Vault, taking his katana to be fixed, and then there was that bizarre episode with Lee. Who'd have thought the kid would have been such a lightweight, and a deadly lightweight at that. And finally there was the mission he was to undertake, starting tomorrow.

**Flashback**

_Finally alone after getting home from that...abrupt...meal with Team Gai, Naruto trudged up to his room and collapsed on his bed. Staring at the ceiling, he just lay there gazing into middle distance for a while, before remembering the two scrolls he had been given by the Hokage earlier on. Rolling from his prone position into a seated one, Naruto heaved his tired limbs into action and wandered over to his hip pouch to retrieve the scrolls. Returning to the bed he broke open the seal on the mission scroll and began to read._

'_Uzumaki Naruto, Genin 1__st__ Class_

_This is a transport mission of the utmost importance, the impact of which has far reaching consequences for both this village and Hi no Kuni at large. It requires you to take the second scroll provided and deliver it to the leader of Kusagakure no Sato, the 'Kusakage' Mateki Suiteki. Under no circumstance is the scroll to be opened prior to delivery into the hands of the Kusakage, you are to guard it as you would any other precious object or diplomat. The reason this has been assigned to you Naruto, is that prior to marrying into the Mateki clan, Suiteki was a member of the Uzumaki clan and elder sister to one Uzumaki Kushina. Considering your personal feelings towards uncovering your clan's history, and your increasingly prodigious skills as a shinobi, I considered you to be the best candidate for this mission. You may start only when you feel ready, but this mission must be completed before the month is out._

_Also as a side note pertaining to this unique mission. It has been reported that a man named Jiraiya has been spotted travelling close to the border between Hi and Kusa. If you happen to come across him during your mission, stalk him briefly recording his movements and behaviour, and if possible determine what direction he might move in next._

_Thank you and good luck with the mission._

_Sarutobi Hiruzen, Sandaime of Konohagakure no Sato.'_

_Naruto looked up from the letter, a degree of fascination burning in his eyes. So this was why 'he alone' could fulfil this mission, he was related to the leader of Kusagakure. Suddenly several pieces fell into place, as he recalled his father mentioning his aunt in Kusa. Also Naruto recalled Minato mentioning the name Jiraiya-sensei, perhaps this man he was supposed to find was his father's old sensei. Had the old man planned for this, well that was a trick question if he ever heard one? Re-reading the scroll once and then twice more, Naruto's mind immediately turned to planning. He needed to leave as soon as possible, daybreak would be most appropriate to avoid anyone seeing him leave. Making a mental list Naruto moved over to his backpack, just emptied after returning home from Nami no Kuni, and began to repack his things._

**End Flashback**

Now he was packed and ready to leave come the morning, but on seeing the clear night he had decided to spend some time star gazing. He needed a slightly peaceful break from things, a small period of respite before his apparent return to the field. This was to be his first solo mission as a shinobi, considered amongst his peer's to be an important step in ones career. Being able to handle solo missions of importance was something that was scrutinized during the Jounin exams and the greater the experience the greater the chance one could see themselves promoted to such a high position amongst shinobi society.

His attention was caught briefly as a shooting star streaked across the night sky. 'A good omen maybe' he thought to himself. Rising from the cool roof tiles, Naruto made his way back inside, he needed to sleep.

**End of Part 1**

**Author Notes**

Okay, I'm going to be frank with you all, this is not the chapter I had hoped to post. In fact this is half of what I had hoped to post. I had wanted to be done at least a month before now, ready for the New Year, but alas things have been decidedly different. For those of you who don't know, I am currently half way through a three year university course, four years if I decide to go for Masters, and as such I am faced with a rather large monthly workload. Sure its just lectures, seminars and a monthly 2000 word essay, but there is also the time spent researching for these things, reading up on what I need to know. Also I am now living in a rented flat with some friends for this year, and have since found the need for increased job hours to deal with bills and rent and so forth.

In short, time has not been on my side, specifically the time I need to sit down and write this chapter. There is so much more I want to put into this one, and as the time between my last update and now has grown, I have increasingly become agitated. So as a remedy, I am posting this, the first half of the chapter, up now for you all to read. When the second half is done, that too shall be posted, separately at first, before I merge the two together into what I had wanted to be posting come last Christmas. Sound fair? I hope so.

This has been a fun one to work on, I particularly enjoyed writing the scene with Team Gai, which if I am honest was wholly spontaneous. I was watching the anime and thought it would be funny to include Naruto in the scene, so thats what I did. Coming up we have Naruto encountering Jiraiya and all that such a meeting entails, more on his destiny as the Spirit Child will be revealed, with some hidden spoilers for what is ahead if you are inclined to read between the lines, and finally the definitive description of Kusagakure no Sato. This is something I am particularly proud of.

So be patient, and I should have a new slice of the story all done within the month, after I get my exam on the 24th out of the way first. Wish me luck, keep sending those reviews, and most of all thank you for your patience. Lysander45.


	13. Chapter 12: Emissary of the Leaf, Part 2

**Naruto Legacy of the Hokages**

**By Lysander45**

**Disclaimer:** I do not and never will own Naruto, no matter how much I want too. Any and all characters, jutsu and places that I create are mine; if you want to use them please ask permission.

" Speech

' Thoughts

() Jutsu translations/authors voice/usual use for brackets that I cannot be bothered to describe

Italic memories/writing/Spirit voice

Bold emphasis on word

… Pause during speech

**Chapter 11 – Emissary of the Leaf Part II**

Naruto hoisted his backpack over his shoulders as he trudged through the east gate of the village. Normally most human traffic came and went via the main south gate, the largest of the three, but in some cases when one needed to be quiet or unseen the other gates were used. Naruto had decided to use this method of beginning his solo mission as an example for himself, walking silently alone into a dark morning, an example of the life he had chosen. Though bound as they were by bonds of fellowship, shinobi would always be alone in some sense.

Closing his eyes Naruto envisioned the maps of the Hi no Kuni and Kusa no Kuni he had procured from the Vault, and formed the fastest route from Konohagakure to Kusagakure. Remembering the secondary factor of his mission, the need to locate Jiraiya, he factored in the closest towns and villages between his route and the nations border, where the man was reputed to be. Happy with his calculations Naruto opened his eyes, nodded to the half-awake guard, and set off.

He appeared to vanish into thin air as he leapt into the air, travelling in the usual shinobi fashion of vaulting through the trees and over obstacles with ease. At times when he hit the ground, Naruto maintained a quick running pace with his arms extended behind him in another display of shinobi sensibility. After a day's constant travel he managed to reach the town of Boshoku, the first town on his list concerning the search for Jiraiya. After paying for a room at, what he had been told by a helpful old woman selling dango, the best hotel in the prosperous town, Naruto decided to relax and recuperate in the hotels hot springs.

"I can search for this Jiraiya guy tomorrow. Made good time today so I can afford the break, and if I continue like this I can have the mission over and done with in...a week, tops" Naruto muttered to himself as he unpacked and checked his things. Picking up a towel he headed in the direction of the hot springs, situated up a hill behind the hotel. His walking pace became increasingly slow as he trudged up the steps, and pushing open the doors to the male changing rooms was an ordeal in itself as his fatigue rapidly crept up on him.

Naruto stared through to the hot springs themselves, and his tired face contorted into a vision of abject outrage as his eyes focused on one thing. Through the steam and mist of the hot water, pressed against the wall between this pool and the women's pool as if his life depended on it, was a man. He was naked save for a towel wrung around his waist, a great mane of white hair hanging limp and wet against his back, and as he looked through what must be a peeping hole Naruto could hear him giggling like a little boy.

'Great, I can barely move and now I have to spend my time resting with a blatant pervert peeking at the women's baths. No, screw it, wrong place and time for this guy...he's about to get my boot up his ass!' Naruto fumed, raging against the heavens for blessing him with such an annoyance on such a pleasant day. Using his rising emotion as fuel to move, Naruto ran towards the crouching man shouting a death threat as he did so.

The unnamed pervert looked away from his sport in annoyance, wondering why he was ALWAYS interrupted just as things got good. His bleary eyes opened at the sight of attack, and acting on instinct he bit his thumb and thrust his hand to the ground. "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" he cried, calling on his usual partner in crime Gama to give the little upstart a tongue lashing. To his surprise the boy managed to dodge the attack with a very neat weave, grabbing the tongue as it naturally retracted back into his toad friend's mouth. Looking at the boys face, the man could only gasp a little as a wave of déjà vu washed over him, old faces clouding his vision until it was too late. Cursing beneath his breath, the man could only take the hit as a foot smashed into his jaw, sending him flailing into the water behind him.

Rising from the waters, Jiraiya shouted out "What the hell was that for you damn psychopath! What a guy can't enjoy a bath nowadays without some loony wacko hitting him in the face!" He meant to continue, but was silenced by the look of calmness on the boys face as he went through some breathing exercises intended to channel anger into positive healing thoughts, a Buddhist technique for filtering unwanted aggression. The silence was punctuated by Gama's croaking, the toad having decided to slip into the bath for a quick dip.

Naruto meanwhile having clamed himself down and thought about his actions, had retreated into the changing rooms, shed his clothes and re-entered the baths. Slipping into the water with a contented sigh, Naruto allowed the heat to massage and soothe his aching muscles, waiting for the inevitable tirade to begin again. He was surprised however, when the man retained his cool and merely asked "So what exactly was that all about. I know some people have strong morals, but there's a difference in finding something distasteful and beating a man because of his choice in leisure activities."

Naruto didn't look the man in the eyes; he just stared up into the orange evening sky. "Gomen. I've been travelling all day, so I'm a little tired which made me somewhat short tempered. You're right; I should have probably just asked you to stop. Once again, I apologise."

Jiraiya sighed to himself, rubbing the sore spot on his cheek, "Apology accepted I suppose." There was a long pause as the man looked at the boy with intense scrutiny, his curiosity peaked by his remarkable similarity to his old pupil. 'Could he be...no. Well he is the right age, and the resemblance is uncanny.' He thought, deciding to prompt conversation to investigate his hunch further.

"Those were some pretty slick moves back there kid. It's not often I find someone able to catch me off guard like that you know."

Naruto smiled, his head still reclined for comfort purposes. "Thanks, I guess. Same for you, I've never seen a summoning technique before, so that was a first for me. I like firsts; you always remember them above other memories for some reason. You a shinobi?"

"For my sins..." Jiraiya said crossing his arms in thought "...I noticed you're hitai-ate bore the signature of the Leaf, meaning you must be a shinobi of Konohagakure no Sato, the village Hidden in the Leafs. Are you on a mission in these parts?"

"Something like that. I'm on an envoy mission, C-rank so nothing serious. I'm to head for Kusagakure and deliver something from the Hokage to the Kusakage, my first solo mission too so it's pretty important that I complete it ya know. Also, I have a second task to perform whilst I'm at it. I have to search for a man named Jiraiya who is said to be travelling about these parts. Whilst it's not as important as the delivery, it's still something I was asked to do so I intend to see it done. You haven't heard anything about this man, have you?" Naruto asked.

Jiraiya's eyes narrowed and he could not help but ask the next question. "Might I have your name first, before I say anything further?"

Naruto reached backwards and scratched his heads before moving from his reclined position to look at the man sitting opposite him in the pool. "My name is Uzumaki Naruto" he said politely, watching to see what reaction he might get. As was the case with Haku back in Nami no Kuni, Naruto knew when casual conversation was being used for information gathering. An increasingly obvious theory had become forethought in his head; one which he hoped would be proven valid as it would cut a great deal of wasted time from his mission.

Jiraiya could only stare as the name reverberated through his heart, bringing back a painful memory of two precious people leaving to face a great evil. 'Of all the places we could meet, I find the boy here in a place that's very name means twilight scene, and he has been sent to look for me. Sensei you old goat, it's like something from an old story.' He thought. Grinning wryly, Jiraiya decided to not beat around the bush. "Well it's quite a coincidence we have on our hands. I am Jiraiya" he said his some element of flash about his tone.

Naruto blinked, a little amazed that his hunch had proven right, and somewhat pleased that he had already completed one part of his mission. All that was left was travelling to Kusagakure, meeting his long lost great aunt and returning back to the village. Accepting the man's offer to leave the baths to talk over some food, Naruto returned to his room to get a spare change of clothes. Placing the weights back on his chest and limbs, Naruto drew comfort from the familiar pressure as the sealed gravity effect drew on his chakra to increase the weight on his body. As well as that, he still felt a strange tingling in his gut that had appeared ever since Jiraiya had revealed himself.

'This is Jiraiya, the same Jiraiya that was oyaji's sensei. Am I nervous...or is this anticipation at meeting another figure of my parents past, another person so close to my family' Naruto thought as he zipped up his jacket and tied on his hitai-ate. Pausing at the door, he felt around and withdrew a picture he had taken with him from his home. Gazing at the picture he felt a sense of warmth in his chest, the picture of his parents holding him as a baby. Without anymore words he left the room and closed the door.

**Later**

After finishing his order of ramen with a side of okonomiyaki and soup, Naruto set down his beverage of choice and waited for the questions to begin. Obviously not one to disappoint, Jiraiya took a sip of sake and gazed over the cup at the blonde. "So let me get this straight. Your name is Uzumaki Naruto. You're a genin of Konoha, assigned an envoy mission to the Kusagakure."

"Man you sure catch of fast huh?" Naruto retorted, raising a small tick of irritation from the white haired hermit, who just continued to sip at his sake cup.

"Kids these days..." he muttered under his breath "...no respect for their elders. I was just going over things to try to clarify why the old man would entrust an envoy mission to a single genin, I mean, missions of this calibre are reserved for full teams or shinobi of chunin level or higher. You must be pretty good for a genin to be sent solo at such a tender age."

"I can handle myself...being a quick study helps" Naruto replied cryptically, perusing the sweet section of the menu with a sideways glance.

There was a pause as Jiraiya mulled over the answer before speaking again. "Uzumaki is an interesting name, from your father I take it. I haven't been in the village for so long; it's hard to keep up with all the names."

Naruto closed his eyes and counted to ten as he thought on the best way to counter the question. Jiraiya obviously knew who he was, and his questions were all aimed at revealing how much he knew about his history. The same thing had happened with Kakashi, and Naruto had been frank then, why change tack now?

"No..." Naruto said, reaching into his pocket for the photo of his parents "...Uzumaki is the name of my mother's clan, not my fathers. My father, as you well know, was Namikaze Minato. Son of Namikaze Shinkuyain, former Yondaime Hokage of Konohagakure, and your former student. Now I assure you Jiraiya-san that our meeting here is purely coincidental, I was to search for your whereabouts as a sideline to my main mission. But here we are, sitting down in this place, talking, so I think it's only fair that we get these revelations out of the way. I've been in this situation with Kakashi-sensei, and the only way out of it I saw that was most beneficial in the long run was to confess truth and say that yes, I know you my parents are. I know that twelve years ago they died defending the village from the Kyuubi no Kitsune, which my father sealed within my body making me a Jinchuuriki. I know all that history. So..." he finished, handing the picture over for the man to look at "...what's your next probing question...Ero-san?"

Jiraiya did a double take, blinked several times as he accepted the offered picture, and as he looked at it took a sobering breathe in. Groaning he rubbed his head as if to stave off a migraine, mumbling something about it being one of those days, before looking back at Naruto. "So Kakashi's your sensei huh? Sometimes I wonder if there is such a thing as coincidence, but that just takes the cake" he said, passing the photo back and taking a large swig straight from the sake jug.

"I should have known something like this would happen today, after that dream I had last night. I dreamt of that night, twelve years ago, when I stood by and watched the closest thing I had to a family sacrifice itself..." Jiraiya said, staring out of the window at the night's sky. "...So how much do you know?" he asked, his eyes now focused with a laser intensity on the boy. A small smile built on his face as he noticed the blonde return his gaze unflinchingly.

"Everything so far as I can tell. I live in the Namikaze estate, in the house my mom lived in. I know about the Vault, the Namikaze clan's failsafe for the village. I know about my mother's clan, their history, their country and all that. That's pretty much it so far, but I am hoping that meeting my great aunt in Kusa will fill in some more blanks for me" Naruto replied, waving his hand as if the facts he were spouting were common knowledge. At least they were where present company was concerned.

Jiraiya whistled, a little surprised at how clued in his long returned godson was to his heritage. 'That explains his skills, since he was the Vaults repository to fall back on. But there's something else, he didn't say how he learnt all of this, only that he knows' the sage thought. "Who told you all of this? Was it the old man, because I'm pretty sure Minato would have asked him to hold back until you were at least sixteen?"

Naruto sucked on his cheek as he prepared to drop the next bomb. "I learnt it all from my dad of course." The answer had the same effect that it had had on Kakashi all those weeks ago, a look of complete surprise. Sure that he had the man hanging on his every word, Naruto began to narrate the old story of how his father had created the jutsu dubbed Shinzui Hashi and implanted it within his infant son's body, alongside the completed Shinten Koyou Fuin. How when the seal had prematurely activated, it had granted Naruto the power to communicate with the dead, amongst other things. He also went so far as to mention his new spiritual sensei and the overview of his past mission to Nami no Kuni.

Jiraiya simply listened dumbstruck, occasionally reaching for the sake to calm his nerves. When Naruto had finished, he shook the jug and discovered to his amusement that he had drank all of its contents. Feeling the liquor's familiar burning in his stomach, the old shinobi sighed. "Minato, that kid was one in a million, the most gifted individual I had ever met. Used to be, I thought his only legacy was that library of his and some measure of peace due to the sealing of the fox...but I guess he left a little something extra."

Naruto just sat there and picked up the photograph, placing it back in his pocket where it was safe. Jiraiya then stood up and yawned, before walking away waving "I'm going to go to bed. All these surprises today have made me sleepy. Don't worry kid, you can tell the old coot that I'll be back in the village before the next Chunin exams."

The last part caught Naruto's attention, 'Chunin exams? Of course, that must be what's in the scroll, the times for the next Chunin exams. This changes things, now I definitely need to get to Kusa!' he thought, before noticing that Jiraiya had not put anything towards the bill. Grumbling, Naruto laid down some money and headed for his room. He needed to get some sleep too.

**Later that Night**

Jiraiya did not go to sleep as he had said. How could he having come across, so randomly in this small town, the godson whom he had not seen in over a decade. He could not sleep, nor did he want to, for he knew of the memories that would plague his dreams if he closed his eyes. Instead, he stood all night watching the boy sleep, contemplating the new purpose that had been thrust into his life.

'It's funny...' he thought as he gazed at the boy beneath the half moon '...up until now I had thought I had only one goal in life. Track Orochimaru, watch him from the distance and wait for a time to bring him to bear for his crimes. That was myself imposed penance for allowing him to fall as far as he has. But now this kid appears, and I can't help but think of Minato and that other promise I made all those years ago.'

**Flashback**

_A younger man stood before a decorated crib, gazing at the sleeping infant held within. The babe was three days old, and already had made a strong impression on those closest to him. Reaching down to stroke the child's soft cheek, being careful not to wake the boy, the man spoke just as softly. He knew not what compelled him to say the words he was to utter, beyond a deep paternal affection that he could not put a finger on exactly._

"_I gave you your name you know. Naruto, it was just this name I thought up whilst eating some ramen, but your mom seemed to like it. It's a godfathers job to see their godchild grow up right in the place of their parents...I can only hope that I can live up to that role if it ever falls to me. But I promise you this kid, I will always be there to help you, no matter what. If anything were to happen to your folks, I'll make sure you grow into a man that can make them proud. I promise."_

**End Flashback**

'Guess the time's come to live up to that promise. Fate has placed a heavy burden on your shoulders, and though you seem to be bearing it well, I'd be a pretty awful godfather if I didn't help you with it. Kid, you're gonna be my disciple. Just like I trained your father and guided him as a sensei, so shall I guide you. Looks like I'm heading for Kusagakure...and maybe 'there' if you can stand a slight detour' the old shinobi thought.

**Next Day**

Cracking his back as he went through some preliminary warm up exercises, Naruto kept his eyes fixed on the horizon. His pack was in order as was his shinobi kit, in short he was ready to leave. Launching off the ground Naruto smiled as he felt the wind against his face. However, just as he was about to clear the edge of the town and surge into the distance beyond it, a voice called out his name. Embarrassingly he was caught off guard in mid-leap, his body comically outstretched, but he quickly recovered. Twisting in mid-air Naruto landed on his feet to see who was trying to get his attention. It was Jiraiya, waving at him propped against a tree with his own backpack at his feet. Naruto noted the bags beneath his eyes, 'Did he actually sleep last night' he wondered, waiting for the man to catch up with him.

"Looks like I almost lost you for a second there. I would have never guessed a kid like you would be leaving so early, good thing I'm an early riser myself huh?" Jiraiya said, trying to seem nonchalant with a slight chuckle.

"Yeah I do have a mission to finish ya know" Naruto replied, unsure as to what the man would want now that, technically, their business had been concluded.

Jiraiya looked at the kid in an appraising fashion for a brief minute before continuing with his rehearsed speech. "Yeah about that mission of yours. I know it's a solo mission and you'd probably like to travel alone, but you see I remembered I have a errand to run in Kusagakure and I was wondering if I could tag along with you. Travelling is always more fun when you have a travelling partner..."

Grinning, Jiraiya launched himself into a kabuki pose, slowly moving his arms through the air. "...And let's face it, there's no better travelling companion to have than I, the gallant Jiraiya, the Gama-sennin of Myobokuzan Mountain to whom men tremble and ladies weep with adoration!"

Naruto watched the small tableau with a certain degree of discomfort before muttering "Gama-Sennin...Ero-sennin would be more damn appropriate."

Hearing this small remark, Jiraiya lunged forwards and grabbed the boy by his collar. "Its Gama-sennin dammit, what are you trying to do ruin my perfectly suave reputation. Honestly you should be begging me to come along with you!"

Unable to help himself Naruto rose to the bait and retorted "You're Ero-sennin because all you seem to do is wander from town to town peeking at girls as they bathe you sour old prune!"

"That is research for my novels..." Jiraiya shouted back, pulling out a copy of Icha Icha Paradise with one hand before shoving it in Naruto's face "...see I am a legitimate writer and publisher of fiction!"

Naruto recognised the book immediately as being one from the series that Kakashi was always reading. "I know those damn books, Kakashi-sensei is always reading those pervy novels."

Jiraiya paused "Really? Kakashi reads them...guess he got that package delivery then. Well that's enough childishness. If a simple request won't be enough, how about this." Slamming his palm upon the ground Jiraiya called out "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" and in a poof of shinobi smoke the same frog from the previous night appeared, this time carrying a scroll in its tongue. The toad carefully placed the scroll reverently upon the ground before retracting its tongue. Jiraiya crossed his arms and gave Naruto a serious look.

"This is the contract scroll that binds a shinobi in partnership with the Gama of Myobokuzan. Since you know that Namikaze Minato was your father, then doubtless you know that I was his sensei. If we travel together I promise to teach you the Kuchiyose technique, one of the techniques used by your father to stop the Kyuubi. How about that for an offer aye kid?"

Naruto did not answer straight away; instead he looked at large scroll at his feet. This changed things, this offer. He had hoped to learn from this man at some point, but he had thought that might be in the future when he returned to Konoha. Still, he seemed serious; perhaps he should take him up on his offer and add one more sensei to the list. Crouching down Naruto carefully opened the scroll outwards to see the names signed within, and with the faintest of touches dragged his fingertips down his father's signature. He then looked up at Jiraiya with a grin, "You really to play hardball dontcha Ero-sennin. Deal!"

**Later**

Down a dusty road a pair of travellers slowly made their way. They seemed an odd pair, one a tall middle aged man with a shocking mane of white hair, the other a short blonde haired boy, an intriguing duality. The pair had been travelling for a day since early morning, and had travelled a great distance in that time, but they were still roughly a day's travel from the border with Kusagakure. Setting up camp in a small clearing several kilometres from the border, the pair watched as the sun began slowly move into twilight, casting an orange glow about the land.

Then began the introduction to the training, Naruto signing the contract scroll with his name in blood and an imprint of his right hands fingertips. Jiraiya explained that they would camp during the evenings and practice the technique then, since the days travel would deplete Naruto's stamina enough to force him to draw out the volumes of chakra necessary to perform a successful summoning.

Sitting beside the camp fire, Jiraiya explained the series of seals one needed to go through for the jutsu. It seemed simple enough, draw blood perform some seals and release the chakra at the point of impact with the ground or any solid surface. The sannin noted how for some time after the explanation Naruto sat quietly in a meditative position, as if he were thinking over the jutsu or committing it to memory. Fascinated by the different approach from his new student, Jiraiya did as any sensei would have done; he stayed quiet and let his protégé continue.

After some time Naruto opened his eyes, seemingly contented with his mental processing he had pursued on the Kuchiyose jutsu. He smiled as he wondered what the old him would have done, most likely he would have exhausted himself somehow and just blasted as much chakra as possible into the technique with poor results, a tadpole or something like that. But that was the old Naruto, before the Shinten Koyou Fuin had amplified his mental capacity. The reason Naruto had spent so long meditating over the jutsu was because he was running through calculations.

The Kuchiyose jutsu was a C-rank Space/Time Ninjutsu that used a blood mixed with chakra to transport and animal or weapon over a great distance. The more he thought about that explanation, the more Naruto started going over mathematical equations equating chakra cost to movement of physical mass. He thought about the animal that he trying to summon, a toad, and estimated the exact mass of an average size toad. Factoring in the distance between his current location and the Toad Land of Myobokuzan where he would be summoning the toad from. The Toad Land lay in the area situated between Tsuchi no Kuni and Kaze no Kuni, a fair distance by foot but with the nature of the Kuchiyose jutsu it was not a great problem. All of these calculations went about Naruto's mind in a maelstrom of thought, before he arrived at what he believed to be the correct volume of chakra needed to perform the summoning. Biting his thumb Naruto ran through the seals and struck his hand upon the ground, calling out the jutsu's name in the time honoured fashion.

Jiraiya sat up when he saw Naruto do this, and peered expectantly at the large cloud of shinobi smoke created by the jutsu. 'This should be good. I mean if the kid's anything like his father he should be able to grasp the technique quickly, and with the chakra on the Kyuubi he could be summoning a toad like Gamabunta in no time...'

Through the smoke a figure began to appear, a small figure, and Jiraiya's expectant face went deadpan. Naruto however seemed pleased with his efforts, and through the smoke the small crimson coloured toad looked up at its summoner. "What the heck? I thought I was summoned by someone important, but it's just a kid" exclaimed Gamakichi as he gazed up at Naruto.

Jiraiya groaned, "And here I was expecting something big. That great talent of yours must be pretty hit and miss."

Naruto shook his head, "Actually it turned out exactly as I had hoped. I only wanted to summon a small toad at first to test out how the jutsu works. I calculated the amount of chakra necessary depending on the mass of the toad, and now my calculations are a success I should be able to, with practice, summon even bigger toads. Watch this...Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"

Slamming his hand to the ground Naruto created another poof of shinobi smoke, which cleared to reveal another small toad. Jiraiya and Gamakichi looked on, the small toad intrigued by his summoners words. 'Who is this kid? A newbie? That's Jiraiya, I recognise him from pap's stories, so this kid must be his pupil' the toad thought to himself.

The smoke cleared and revealed an orange toad of equal size to Gamakichi, except this one's appearance was slightly difference. "Well howdy..." the little toad exclaimed cheerfully "...my name's Gamatatsu! Have ya got any snacks?"

Naruto walked over to his backpack and brought out some potato chips, tossing them to the newly summoned toad who accepted them readily. Sitting down with Jiraiya Naruto smiled as he warmed his hands by the fire. "See, I was just able to replicate the same effects with the technique because I knew exactly how to do it. The same size toad just after my first summoning."

The white haired sensei huffed, "Alright I yield seems you planned things out pretty well. Not too shabby kid, not too shabby at all." he said behind a cheerfully sardonic mask. Within though he was rather startled at the boy's precise and accurate approach. 'Minato, this kid of yours is something else. I was expecting a tadpole and he summoned two regular toads on his first and second tries. With a learning curve like this he could surpass everyone who came before him...I mean it took you two weeks to summon a toad of Gama's size, so how long might it take your son?'

Deciding to throw a little incentive the boy's way, as a means of seeing how he might react with a clear goal in mind Jiraiya muttered under his breath. "Alright then, how about a challenge. If you can summon one of the great toads by the time we have reached Kusa and returned to Konoha, I might be tempted to teach you something else."

Naruto, who had moved to talking to the pair of toads, perked up and smiled. He did not know what the man was planning, but something in the tone of his voice hinted that the 'something else' was pretty big. "Okay, sure, challenge accepted..." Naruto said, turning to talk to Gamakichi. "...Could you guys tell me just how big the largest toads of your clan are? You know just so I have something to work with when I train."

The small toad crossed its arms together in thought. "Well, most of us toads tend to come in three size groups depending on our age and sub species. There are toads of me and Gamatatsu's size that're used as messengers. Then there are medium sized toads like Gama, the guy who Jiraiya over there is always summoning. And then there are toads like my pap, the great toad boss Gamabunta who are huge! My pap's over one hundred metres tall and tough as they come, but he can be a little grumpy when summoned!"

Jiraiya burst out laughing at the description, "Grumpy...now there's an understatement. I've known that toad for years and we still argue like cats and dogs."

"Yeah and he's still mad at you for that last time!" Gamakichi retorted, glaring at the sage.

"Yep, daddy's reeeeally angry at ya Jiraiya-san" Gamatatsu chimed, having finished the snacks Naruto had given him.

Shaking his head at his younger brother's naivety, Gamakichi looked at Naruto. "It was nice to meet ya Naruto. Feel free to summon me anytime you need me...I get the feeling things'll be interesting with you around!" Then the pair of toads disappeared in a puff of smoke as they returned to their home, leaving a thoughtful Naruto and a yawning Jiraiya sitting outside of their respective tents.

"I'm gonna hit the hay. See you in the morning kid" Jiraiya said before entering his tent. Normally he would be sleeping rough, but the area they were in seemed to possess a mosquito problem and neither of the pair wanted to wake up covered in bites.

Naruto sat still gazing into the fire, thinking of the spiralling amount of tasks awaiting him. The mission to Kusagakure and the chance of meeting his great aunt burned strongly in his mind, but ever since meeting Jiraiya he had new concerns piling up. He had taken the man's offer to train gladly, seeing it as another means of connecting with his father, but as he performed the Kuchiyose jutsu and received praise for his efforts another desire entered his mind. He was familiar with it, having felt it with Iruka and Kakashi, the desire for praise from ones sensei. To prove oneself to a master was one of the greatest thrills Naruto had ever felt.

He would prove his worth to Jiraiya regardless of the wager, by summoning this Gamabunta that his new friend Gamakichi had mentioned. But in order to do so he would need to expel an incredible amount of chakra, and he feared that his arguably large reserves would not be enough. This required more thought, but first sleep. Sleep was good.

**Later that Night**

The dream was back, the dream of the battle. Unable to wake himself from his nightmare Naruto watched as the battle raged around him, strange creatures fighting warriors in black. He had allies that much was certain, but how he knew them and why they were helping him was uncertain. He heard a rumbling, and in the distance saw a rapidly approaching black cloud crackling with dark energy. He feared the cloud, but knew that he needed to stop whatever was inside of it creating the aura of fear. Bending down, he launched into the air and with the crack of a sonic boom flew forwards towards the cloud, an angry roar emanating from his chest.

**The Next Day**

Naruto and Jiraiya sat outside of the travellers lodge waiting for their order to arrive. They had been up since sunrise moving towards the border, and had made surprising progress crossing into Kusa no Kuni by the afternoon. Deciding to rest at a travellers lodge for some food and drink, the pair chatted casually, Naruto picking Jiraiya's brains concerning his family. Jiraiya had heard of how Kushina's aunt Suiteki had become Kusakage, a position acquired through familial ties. The title was not one gained through election as was the case with other villages; it was passed on through generations. The Mateki clan had held the title of Kusakage for four generations since the village had been founded. When the previous Kusakage, Suiteki's husband Jushiro had died of tuberculosis the elders had asked Suiteki to keep the position until Jushiro's first born child came of age and inherited the position as was tradition. The move had been opposed by several clans who had asked that the sovereign right pass to another clan, but Suiteki had proved herself strong enough to be the village's protector and leader.

Naruto took everything in, and when their food arrived the pair ate quietly. Naruto then noticed mid-bite that Jiraiya was listening intently to a conversation in the other table so he decided to strain his ears and listen in as well.

"...seriously that old women was scary. I mean they say she's a fortune teller or something, but all she told me was that I should avoid visiting my sister in Konohagakure in the summer. Why would I do that? I mean really, should we actually trust the word of a nomad, I mean they have no home for a reason" the man whispered conspirationally to his friend.

Naruto did not think much of the man's words; he was just having a conversation about a trip. But Jiraiya seemed very interested, humming as he held his chin in thought. "Hey Naruto. I know it might put us back a day or so, but is it possible for us to make a small detour?"

Naruto looked down at his empty plate idly, curiosity starting to burn in his mind. He had heard the words 'fortune' and 'teller', which brought back a memory of Minato relating how he had seen a fortune teller during his youth, and occasion that had changed his life. Downing the remains of his tea Naruto nodded, "Sure why not? One day can't hurt...I guess. I mean, that's one more day to practice the Kuchiyose jutsu right."

Jiraiya hummed in agreement, "When you think of it that way I guess. But seriously, if this is the nomadic tribe I think it is, then one extra day could mean a whole lot more for you. I speak from experience about this one." Finishing his drink Jiraiya paid the bill and quizzed the travellers about the whereabouts of the nomad camp. One of them pointed in the direction from which they had come, and Naruto and Jiraiya moved from there.

Naruto saw the camp before they arrived, and was a little surprised at the notion of a group still living in what would have probably have been considered to be and outdated fashion. Several large wagon carts formed a semi-circular perimeter around the camp, which was backed against a large rock face. The camp itself consisted of a number of tents of various sizes, made from what appeared to be animal skin and wooden tent poles. Smoke rose from fires dotted around the area, people went about their business washing clothes and driving livestock.

As they approached the camp the duo were stopped by guards armed with jian swords. The guards were a little defensive, but allowed the pair to pass when Jiraiya revealed his name. They even went so far as to bow and welcome his return, which intrigued Naruto greatly. The feeling then amplified itself as an elder of the tribe by the name of Kahiko, a strange man with a small ferret curled around his shoulders, walked up to Jiraiya and spoke to him as if he were an old friend.

Naruto remained silent as the men discussed something aside, his gaze sweeping across the inner circle of the camp. The air was thick was the smell of nature, the animals, the smell of the leather of the tents, the smoke of the fire. 'Such a simple lifestyle, nothing but the world around you and a path to follow' Naruto thought with a smile. He loved his home, but he still found the tableau of life a fascinating subject, one of many new favourites from his time reading late into the evening.

As his eyes moved about the general vicinity, one place in particular caught his attention. It was a skin tent similar to the others, round in structure similar to those used by other nomadic tribes in the Northern plains, except all of the animal hides used for cover and insulation were dark brown. In fact they all blended so seamlessly the tent appeared to be covered in a single sheet of fabric and not hide. Another difference was that large decorative wooden totem was used as a centre stand. The top of the totem was carved to resemble four ravens gazing outwards to a different cardinal point, north, south, east and west.

A young girl of around Naruto's age sat outside of the tent, sitting before a fire tending to a pot of what looked to be a stew. She had a remarkable series of tribal tattoo's marking a full one half of her body, on the right side, and her hair was bound in a long braid.

As Naruto approached the tent, she got up and gave him a queer look, like she was gazing at a ghost or a hallucination. 'It can't be...' she whispered, her seemingly misplaced amazement mounting until he reached her. Naruto, noticing the stares (well how could he not?) held out his hand in a greeting. "Hello there, my name is..."

"Uzumaki Naruto..." the girl said, interrupting the blonde and leaving him taken aback. Before he could ask how she knew his name, the girl spun around and ran inside of the tents opening. "...Grandma! Grandma! He's arrived, just like I told you he would!" she cried excitedly.

Naruto looked into the darkness of the tent and noticed the inside was illuminated only by candlelight. Hearing the bubbling of the stew, he looked into the pot and saw that the mix had begun to burn a little. Ignoring the heat from the steam, Naruto gave the stew a stir before picking up the pot by the handle and moving into the tent. Inside he saw the young girl conversing with a heavily robed old woman sitting on a pile of cushions, her back propped up against the totem. Naruto saw that the woman's old skin was covered in the same style of tribal tattoo's that were decorating the young girl, except her body was covered on the left side rather than the right. Her robes were similar to those of a Shinto monk, though they were purple in colour. Her hair was tied up in a large braid that hung down one side of her head.

Speaking up in as earnest a voice as possible Naruto tried to grab their attention. "Excuse me. Sorry to barge in like this, but I noticed your food was starting to burn and I wanted to apologise for staring. Your home is so interesting that I couldn't help but stare, what with the totem pole and everything."

The old woman spoke up "You were right Keika; he is a very polite boy. Your foresight is getting better, I am proud."

Keika beamed with happiness before running over to Naruto and enveloping him in a tight hug. "Thankyouthankyouthankyou! You were the first person I ever made a successful prediction about, so now the elders will have to accept me as Grandma's successor. I mean I know I was a little bad before, but I trained really hard and then I saw you, coming here to see Grandma."

Naruto meanwhile was wincing as some of the burning hot stew spilled over onto his hand, scalding him. The girl ranted for a while longer whilst crushing the breath out of his lungs with her seemingly superhuman strength, before noticing the pain he was in. Relinquishing her grip she grabbed the pot and bowed, apologising profusely. Naruto accepted a bowl of water that was thrust into his hands as the girl scurried about the tent, getting spoons and other bowls for the food. Sighing as the cool water soothed the burn on his hand; Naruto pulled out a bandage from the medical kit in his backpack and wound the cloth around his hand.

Once she had finished moving about the tent, Keika returned to Naruto, grabbing the bowl of water from Naruto's hands and replacing it with a bowl filled with stew. She then grabbed him by the shoulders and dragged him to a pile of cushions opposite her grandmother. Pushing him down she landed on her own pile of cushions and with a cry of "Itadakimasu!" she dove into her bowl of stew with enthusiasm.

Naruto sat dumbstruck by the girl's energy, and was silent for a while until the old woman spoke up between slow spoonfuls of her own food. "You have to forgive my granddaughter; she is just excited that you are finally here. You see three weeks ago she had her first clear prophetic precognitive dream, indicating that a young shinobi with blonde hair would come to our moving village. His name would be Uzumaki Naruto and he would be the subject of a prophecy, orated by myself the Nomad Seer's Reikou of the Karasu clan."

Naruto looked over at the old woman and took in her words in his usual analytical demeanour. "So are you the Seer's that spoke to my father?" he asked, remembering the words of his father for a second time. When he was told of the story of the Kagetentei, Minato had told Naruto of a time when he was a young shinobi on a mission with his team, where he had stopped off in a Nomad village. During their stay, each member of the team had had their futures foretold. Minato in particular had been told of a particularly intriguing future, where he would create powerful jutsu and use them to end a war.

The old woman closed her eyes in thought. "Yes, I seem to recall a boy similar to yourself visiting, but that was years ago. You say he was your father?"

"Yes..." Naruto replied "...his name was Namikaze Minato. I was wondering, how exactly are you able to predict the future. Is it some form of jutsu, or something else entirely?"

Keika looked over at her grandmother, having finished her meal with gusto. "Can I tell the story Grandma? Please!" she asked, her hands clasped together pleadingly. The old seer nodded and returned to eating her stew.

Coughing a couple of times to clear her throat, Keika began to speak. "The story of our clan dates back many years ago, before this tribe even existed. Back then our ancestors lived on a great continent to the south, separated by the vast ocean. We were ruled by a royal hierarchy and existed as a utopian society, whose great industry was fuelled by a natural resource known as Gelel. This mineral contained vast amounts of life energy that was used to power the empire, and for a time the kingdom lived separate from this one in peace, until a great cataclysm fell upon our home and scoured all life in its wake. Some of our ancestors escaped the cataclysm, moving here on great ships of metal that could move across the ocean with ease. One of the scattered remnants, composed of former industrial workers who mined the Gelel mineral, banded together to create this wandering tribe of Nomads. We move across this land, bowing to the will of Nature in turn for a semblance of the peace that we had once had across the ocean..."

Naruto listened to the story, his mouth slightly agape. He had heard similar stories of continent beyond this one during his studies of history, but they were believed by many scholars to be just stories, since oceanic travel was still a highly difficult and very dangerous.

Continuing her story, Keika had a drink before clearing her throat once more. "...Our clan were noted to be one of the more successful families charged with mining the Gelel mineral. It was during those years when the power of the mineral began to have a peculiar effect on the people working under it. Some deep earth miners whose exposure to raw mined Gelel was greatest began to experience waking visions and prophetic dreams, and were forced to retire by the governing officials due to the demoralising effects of their words..."

"...It was only after research into the mineral that it was discovered to, in certain cases, grant unusual powers to individuals when exposed at a pure level. This led to the royal family creating the Stone of Gelel, a highly concentrated but deeply purified source of power that they alone could tap into. Ever since those days, our clan has produced prophets and precognitive individuals due to our altered bloodline. Your scholars might call it a kekkai genkai, but to us it is a gift from the gods of our past. And as our people migrated here in the wake of the cataclysm, so did our clan of prophets, and we have continued to foretell the future ever since."

During the story Naruto ate the food offered to him and pondered the notion of the Gelel mineral. To him it seemed very similar to the ore used in creating chakra receptive shinobi weapons, a except this one was more receptive to chi or natural energy, and for it to grant such a power as precognition was unheard of up until now. He would have to look into it further, but for now he would listen, the way this revelation was going intrigued him.

After hearing her granddaughter finish the tale, Reikou spoke up. "Our clan has travelled with these our nomadic brethren for years now, and wherever we have stopped we have offered our services as fortune tellers and soothsayers to any who come seeking enlightenment. But in the most recent generations the gift granted by the Gelel mineral has begun to fade, Keika was the only of her generation to display the gift. I have trained her to control it, as my mother taught me. Tradition dictated that a disciple must first display a clear and genuine prophetic dream before they can be accepted by the tribe as a seer, and Keika's vision predicted you coming here."

"So what now?" Naruto asked politely.

"Now, Keika, if you would close off the tent. I need silence if I am to predict this young man's fortune accurately." Keika sprung to her feet and ran for the entrance to the tent. She noticed Jiraiya, about to enter in a search for a certain blonde, and apologised as she pushed him outside. "Sorry, but Grandma's about to perform a vision and she needs silence, so if you could wait outside that'd be great!"

The old shinobi protested, but on seeing Naruto sitting down relented and sat down by the cooking fire. Taking out what appeared to be a notebook, Jiraiya thought to himself 'I had intended to take Naruto to see her anyway, that was the purpose of this detour. But it seems I might not have been needed after all to guide him here, fate and destiny hold a peculiar pull over that boy. I wonder what he will learn in there. It certainly had an effect on me.'

**Flashback**

_A hungry young Jiraiya trudged through the rain, his sodden backpack and clothes heavy on his back. It had been three weeks since he had left Konoha on a training trip, and so far all he had been able to do was create one or two new jutsu using his hair as a medium. The purpose of this trip was to find his style, the trend of abilities that best suited him as a shinobi, or at least that was what Sarutobi-sensei had told him when he had suggested it. Tsunade had her research into new healing jutsu (that and her ridiculous strength), Orochimaru had those snake techniques, but so far all he had that was unique was some skill with seals and the Toton jutsu. Looking through the rain, salvation appeared before the traveller as he spied light in a clearing up ahead. Maybe the people here could help him?_

**End Flashback**

He spent a week with the Nomads working to pay off their hospitality, and during that time he received a word into his future from a younger pregnant Reikou. She had told him that the key to his future as a shinobi and as a man lay in the toad land of Myobokuzan. He was to travel there and seek the Toad Sages, to learn from these learned masters. His time in that place would change him forever. So he made his way by foot, exposing himself to the diversity of other lands cultures and maturing as a man, and eventually came to train under Fukusaku.

Becoming a sage defined him more than his first time peeking on a woman (well almost). He had discovered his niche as a shinobi, which certainly helped his career as it was those skills that helped him live through the Second Shinobi War and his battle with Sanshouo no Hanzo of Amegakure. That battle earn't him both his rank as a jonin and his title as part of the Densetsu no Sannin with his former teammates. That and his time amongst the toads revealed his other job, to teach a student destined to save the world. Initially he had believed that student to be...well it was no matter, since he had passed away already. Looking at the tent, Jiraiya could only murmur "Be careful with what you learn kid."

**Inside**

Naruto did as he was instructed by Keika, sitting precisely opposite her grandmother who had closed her eyes in concentration. Opening his chakra sense Naruto could see a strange energy beginning to emanate from her spiritual core, and he knew that something was about to happen. Allowing his spiritual senses to recede, he steeled himself for what was to come, a revelation of his future. At that moment Reikou opened her eyes and Naruto was shocked to see a pale luminescence within those orbs, and an ethereal haze filled the tent.

"Uzumaki Naruto...son of Namikaze Minato and Uzumaki Kushina. For many years we have waited for your arrival, for many years we have perceived your fate upon this world. Yours is a destiny of particular importance, for your chain of fate is bound to the chains of all others. It is your destiny as the Chosen One to bring peace to the world, through salvation or destruction the choice will ultimately be yours. On your journey to this eventual fate, you shall face many tumultuous trials designed to test your will and mould you into the man you are meant to be. The sealing of the ninth tailed son of the demon was the first such trial, and it is one that shall continue onwards for longer than you may perceive..."

"...You are to become the trunk of a great tree of life, your roots drawing from many fountains of knowledge and wisdom to provide strength to the branches that bear those who you perceive to be precious, past, present and future. For it is under your patronage that the destinies of these precious beings shall be guided and preserved, but be warned for these branches shall be numerous in number and the charge of protecting them will enact a great toll upon your Will of Fire..."

"...It is your fate to face death many times, and though the nine fold may seem like the end it is purely the beginning. Beyond your destiny on this plane of creation, it is your ultimate role in the Grand Design to be an ultimate figure of unity. Striding the boundary between life which separates all, and death which joins us all, your soul shall be the bridge between many which have been separated since the Dawn of All Things. With a name alone, you shall connect so many that have been lost..."

"...Upon facing the end and beginning you shall become the traveller of an exodus, a focal point for many prophecies and hopes bound within separate threads of life. Restoring balance and unity shall be your task on this journey, and though it may seem long and the trials immeasurable, the baptism of pain never ending, trust in the light that guides you and you shall return enlightened..."

"...You shall journey through lands ravaged by Sin, divided my mortality and the very elements themselves. Mind, body and spirit each honed in their own field of reverence. Your soul shall be tempered into a weapon of great potency, the yin and yang of your being yours to wield like an angry god. Your eyes will witness war on many plains of battle even unto the coming of a Fourth Golden Age; your ears will hear the beating of the stream of Life which flows beneath Gaia. Fly in a ship of air, guard the penitent, burn like a star, all of these tales shall be yours to tell, but not alone. Remember these words Uzumaki Naruto, for these are the words of time and they are never false."

Naruto listened to the word as they sung within his mind, within his soul, Reikou's melody of revelation carrying a tone of incredible potency. Though much of what was revealed seemed strange to him, he knew that all of it was relevant and with this knowledge he burned what he heard into his memory as if it were a brand. With the verse over, the light faded from Reikou's eyes and she was left panting for breath. Keika handed her a drink which was happily accepted.

"That prophecy, Grandma it was different from the others wasn't it?" Keika asked, worry etched on her tattooed face.

"You are correct...Keika..." Reikou said between deep breaths. She turned to Naruto, a look of questioning curiosity in her eyes. "...You truly are a marvel my boy. I foretell the future, catching glimpses of events that will occur during people's lives. Some are small whilst others are inhuman in their grandiosity, but you were something else entirely. I received such a tremendous barrage of images unlike nothing I have seen before, so many strange and impossible things. You possess a destiny of dire potency, and I can only hope that my small glimpse into it can help you achieve it. Keika, I would like to rest now, please inform the others that I will take no more visitors today."

Keika nodded and gave Naruto a slightly stern look "Every time Grandma has a vision like this she takes longer and longer to recover. I am sorry but could you please leave now." Naruto felt his cheeks burn a little under the scrutiny, but smiled, rising and bowing to Reikou. "Arigato. You have given me a great deal to ponder about today, I hope you feel better after some rest."

The old woman inclined her head in thanks before allowing her doting granddaughter to take hold of her and guide her to a prepared bed. Naruto picked up his things and left the tent, walking by the seated Jiraiya who looked up from his scribbling at the blonde. "That seemed to take a while, are you okay?" he asked quietly.

"You brought me here to see that seer didn't you. That's why you insisted on the detour" Naruto said slowly.

"I did have a slight visit in mind yes. The same thing happened to me years ago, I had my future predicted and it helped me become a stronger person. I just thought since we were passing by, you could benefit from a similar visit" the sage answered, putting away his notebook and pencil.

"Thanks" was all Naruto said after a while. Jiraiya took that as their cue to leave and continue on their way to Kusa. The Nomad elder Kahiko offered the pair some hospitality, a place to stay and rest, but the sage politely refused stating their intention to arrive at Kusagakure within the next two days.

Naruto and Jiraiya continued on their way for the rest of the day, stopping late evening as planned to allow Naruto time to practice the Kuchiyose technique. He continued summoning small frogs, calling forth a small messenger toad called Kosuke. Jiraiya took advantage of the toad's specific role within his society and asked that he deliver a letter to 'them', which Kosuke agreed to do happily. Naruto ignored the cloak and daggers approach Jiraiya took to purloining the toad's services, and instead formulated a chakra equation for summoning a toad of Gama's size or larger.

After another days worth of travel, crossing the border between the two lands in the morning and reaching the Tenchi-kyo by afternoon. As they walked the pair exchanged stories about shinobi life in general, Jiraiya regaling Naruto with tales of the two Shinobi wars he had been involved in, Naruto telling of his last mission to Nami in greater detail at the sage's request. Another night of rest and technique training yielded great results for Naruto, as in a flourish of chakra he managed to summon both Gama and a larger toad by the name of Gamarikishi, who wore a large kesho-morashi (a decorated sumo loincloth similar to a kilt). Apparently the toad had not been summoned in a while and decided to stick around for the evening entertaining the travellers by wrestling with Gama. The larger toad won the majority of times.

After a while the bamboo forests the travellers moved through gave way to a large sweeping grass plain that seemed to go on as far as the horizon. Jiraiya told Naruto it was known as the Sabakuao or Green Desert, and that the village of Kusagkure was located on a particular plateau somewhere in the centre of it. With their destination close at hand the pair increased their speed and ran for the village, taking just a couple of hours after rising on the fourth day to reach the village. Needless to say Naruto felt his mind wander as to what it would be like meeting his obasan, so he left himself a little vulnerable to shock as he clapped eyes of the village's outer rim.

Kusagakure no Sato or the village Hidden in the Grass was named because, like all other shinobi villages it hid itself within a natural surrounding befitting its country of origin. In this instance, that meant an enormous hill the size of the Hokage Mountain which rose out of the plateau. Dug in buildings meant to serve as watch towers dotted the slope beside tree's and great wooden stakes. Towards the top of the great hill the top of a tower was visible, piercing through a canopy of trees. The pair paused to take in the sight and unable to resist himself Jiraiya said with a flourish "Welcome Naruto to Kusagakure!"

**Author Notes**

Finally! The damned deed is done, the chapter is finished! This last piece has taken me and age, much longer than I had anticipated but that's the way life goes I am afraid. Thanks to you all for the patience and great reviews, it really helps to spur one on after reading a clearly well thought out review I can tell you.

Now about the chapter. This is the second half to the Emissary of the Leaf chapter, which was posted in two parts after I felt it necessary to give you all a little something rather than making you wait all this time for the full deal. The chapter shall remain posted in two parts until I post the next chapter 'Reunion of Generations' (which in terms of deadline probably won't be finished until July...ish due to exams and so on). When the next chapter is up I will post this bit in full.

As for content, I promised that this section might show a spoiler filled preview of what's to come. The way I plan to end 'Part I' leads to a pretty exciting series of crossover stories before returning to the manga in 'Part II'. The vision of the future does highlight some of the places I am taking my Naruto if you care to read between the lines, but I refuse to officially say anything until the Chunin exams are over. That may be in the future, but the period of time between posting should eventually become more streamlined as I have started working on multiple chapters at a time. It's a bizarre way of doing things but when inspiration strikes I can move quicker this way.

Keep reading, fun times are ahead. Lysander45.


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